


The Land of the Lost

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 01:24:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 60,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11369658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: “I’m something else, and I need to figure out what that is… on my own.”Her own words rang out inside of her head and Caitlin, though she didn’t regret them, began to seriously reconsider the method in which she had gone about following them....Caitlin is lost and so in order to find herself she goes to a place as chaotic as the turmoil inside her, and ends up with a little more than she bargained for.





	1. Cold, meet Frost

_“I’m something else, and I need to figure out what that is… on my own.”_

Her own words rang out inside of her head and Caitlin, though she didn’t regret them, began to seriously reconsider the method in which she had gone about following them.

After the funeral and saying goodbye to her friends she had gotten into her car, bag already packed and waiting in the passenger seat, and started off. She didn’t really have a destination in mind, nor did she want one, but she had never really been a spontaneous person and by the time that she hit Texas Caitlin couldn’t deny any longer that she knew exactly where she was going. She was lost, and so there was really only place that she could go; The Land of the Lost.

Otherwise known as Los Angeles California.

Currently she was wondering if maybe that had been a little too desperate of a move. She needed to find herself, not get herself killed. But something had just drawn her to the eighth wonder of the world, and she was fairly certain that it wasn’t a death wish. But as she fed more sticks into her fire, futilely trying to warm herself despite not having felt such a sensation in _months_ , Caitlin tried to figure out what else it could’ve been. She had run away from home, an amusing thought at her age, and had come to the land of the unexplained. When she was a little girl she had been terrified by stories of Los Angeles and all of the horrors that it contains. Of all the people who have ever dared to enter very few have made it out alive, and those who have are said to never be the same again.

That, Caitlin knew, was what had drawn her here.

So much had changed for her in the past not even a year, and now she was left picking up pieces that no matter how hard she tries are never going to fit together the same way again. She can’t go back in time and stop the particle accelerator from exploding, or Barry from creating Flashpoint. She can’t turn back the clock and stop Abra Kadabra from escaping. She can’t change the fact that she didn’t tell Julian how she feels about him, even if she doesn’t return the same feelings that he has expressed for her she still wishes she could’ve found the strength to tell him so. She can’t go back to the cemetery and take his cure, or even keep it in her pocket and take it with her. She can’t un-tell Cisco to let her go, can’t change the fact that she didn’t let them bring her back to S.T.A.R. Labs and figure out her new identity and new place among them. She can’t change any of it. The only thing that she can do is sit by her little fire and hope that the only monsters to find her tonight will be the ones inside of her head.

Well, to be fair, it HAS been a long time since things have worked out in the way that she’s hoped.

Caitlin woke up late at night, her small fire burnt out, to the sound of a distant, but still all to close, roar that she had determined by now belonged to a T-Rex. She sat there for a moment, one hand cautiously moving to the strap of her backpack that served as a pillow, ready to snatch it up in a second should she need to move. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her breath frozen in her throat, eyes scouting out every possible path away from her little clearing in the woods. It was quiet, and for a split second she actually allowed herself to think that the T-Rex might not be coming this way.

Another roar in the distance, but getting closer and this time accompanied by the shaking of the earth, let her know that she would have no such luck.

It was definitely going to be here soon.

Scrambling to her feet Caitlin slid her backpack onto her shoulders and took off running. She had learned over the past few weeks here that once you can feel the footsteps of any dinosaur you don’t have much time to get away before it catches up to you, especially if said dinosaur is running. She bolted between the first opening in the trees that she could find and didn’t look back. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran, her eyes constantly scanning all around her for either a hidden escape or more danger. Another roar sounded from behind her and she picked up the pace, or tried to while still being careful of tripping over roots and god only knows what else. She had tried to stick mostly to this area of the forest over the past few weeks, enough so that she could know where a good place to hide might be. It was because of that tactic she knew there was a ditch coming up ahead, large enough for her to hide but small enough that the T-Rex would stomp right over her if it ran through. A part of her wondered briefly what the dinosaur was chasing this late at night to begin with, but it didn’t much matter. What mattered was that she get away before she ended up caught in the crosshairs.

She skidded to a stop as she made it to the ditch before she climbed in with very little hesitation. The sounds and vibrations of the large hunter’s footsteps were getting closer, and at this rate it was only going to be a matter of minutes before the chase passed through here. Sure enough, just as Caitlin managed to settle herself in the ditch, she heard a rustling of the trees from where she had come, accompanied by the sound of… panting?

Not just panting, human panting. The earth shattering sound of Tyrannosaurus roar that shook the earth and forced Caitlin to cover her ears drowned it out quickly, but she was sure of what she had heard. When the sound of the roar died down and Caitlin dared peek over the edge of her little trench she saw that there, in fact, was a person lying on their back on the ground, scrambling in a backwards crabwalk closer to her with the terrifying dinosaur looming over them. With barely a thought to what she was doing, or it’s potential consequences, Caitlin reached out and grabbed the person by the collar of their shirt, yanking them down through the narrow opening of the trench. Of course the T-Rex didn’t like that it’s prey had suddenly vanished and bent down to sniff the ground. But Caitlin had learned in her time here that not many dinosaurs enjoy the cold, and the cold is something she has plenty of.

Dropping her grip on the stranger whom she had just pulled into the trench, Caitlin released a stream of icy air from her hands out of the opening of the trench until it tickled at the T-Rex’s nose and persuaded the dinosaur to abandon his hunt and turn around. Once she was sure that it was gone Caitlin let out a relieved sigh and lowered her hands. The sound of panting, and not just her own, filled her ears and reminded her of what she had just done. She turned slowly, apprehensive of finding herself face to face with a look of fear from the person whom she had rescued, since they had obviously just witnessed her using her powers. When she met the man’s eyes fear was exactly what she got, but it was mixed with confusion, and she was too dumbstruck to care.

“Snart?” She whispered the name, and he started at the sound of her voice.

“Snow?” He asked, like he didn’t really believe it was her until he heard her speak. “Nice hair,” the comment was lacking in his usual snark, but he was trying.

He looked pretty beat up; his jeans ripped and shirt tattered. Not that Caitlin looked any better herself.

“What are you….? How are you…? You’re dead.” It ended up coming out as more of a statement than a question, even though it was very much meant to be a question. Los Angeles had been known throughout history to be home to some very weird things, and even today society only knows about a small fraction of them, but the dead? That sounded impossible even for this place.

“I am?” The confusion on his face actually eased, like he had been suspecting that he might be dead and she had only confirmed it. “So… are you dead too?”

Caitlin knit her brows together at that, “What?” She couldn’t help from blurting, “No, I’m alive. You’re, you’re supposed to be dead. Ray said that you sacrificed yourself for them. At least that’s what Barry said.” She explained and finally the features of Snart’s face, now that he knew he was alive, relaxed just a little bit as he stood up with a grunt and brushed himself off a little.

“I did,” he admitted, “There was a bomb with a failsafe. Mick volunteered to hold it down and… well… I owed him one. I held it down instead. So you’re right, I should be dead. For awhile I thought I was, even after I woke up in Jurassic Park here.” He gestured around vaguely at their surroundings and she couldn’t help but chuckle, even after he had apparently spent the past year believing himself dead the great Captain Cold was still as sarcastic as ever once he got some kind of answer. “Now, where exactly is here?” He drawled and it took almost all of Caitlin’s self control to keep from rolling her eyes.

“Los Angeles, where else?” The question was meant to be rhetorical, but when more genuine confusion fell over Snart’s face, followed by him looking around as if searching for something that was not there, she started to realize that despite all of the strange creatures and structures that could only belong to LA, he’d genuinely had no idea of where he was until now.

“What?” He finally asked, his snark once again slipping away in the midst of him being completely confused.

When he had kidnapped her, and after seeing his criminal record, Caitlin had gotten the feeling that Leonard Snart is a man who likes to be in control. He likes to be in charge, to know everything about his surroundings. So seeing him like this, completely and totally rattled, might have been almost amusing to Caitlin if it weren’t for the pit of fear beginning to form in her stomach as the sensation of something being very wrong here began to settle over her.

“You’re telling me,” Snart began, “That this place, overrun with dinosaurs living in the backyards of skyscrapers, is LA?” He demanded, taking a step closer to her and almost getting in her face.

Truly, Caitlin was at as much of a loss as he was. How could Snart NOT know where he was? Sure the man has traveled throughout all of time, but there was never any other place in history where such a hodgepodge of life has ever existed.

Therefore, all she could think to do was nod.

He backed away from her then, as far as he could get in the confines of the little ditch, and began to pace. He raked his hands over his short hair and down his face, trying to come to terms with and understand something that Caitlin couldn’t figure out.

“And this is normal to you?” He finally asked, rounding on her. “To you, this is how LA’s always been?” He went on and she nodded again, at a total loss for any other sort of response. “Damn,” he muttered, once again turning and pacing. “This… this isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, although given the fact that one of her closest friends is Barry, mess with the timeline, Allen, she had a pretty good idea what he meant.

“This,” Snart began, gesturing to their surroundings, “Is not supposed to be this way. LA is supposed to be a thriving city, and at least half the things here are supposed to be completely extinct.”

“Okay…” Caitlin drawled, trying to wrap her head around the mere idea of Los Angeles, the world’s first No Man’s Land, being a densely populated city. This is a place where you have to be a special kind of crazy or desperate to come, anything but normal. The idea of this place as an actual city, it was almost harder to believe than all the things that currently live here. “Barry accidently changed the timeline earlier this year, it had a big impact but an entire city becoming an unexplained land of the lost for all of history?” She couldn’t help but phrase it like a question, it sounded outright ridiculous. “That’s a lot even for him.”

“It might not have been Barry,” Snart said, “The bomb I was holding down was meant to blow up this thing called The Oculus. These people called The Time Masters had been using it to control every aspect of history. Every civilization to ever fall, as well as every one to ever rise. Every disaster to every strike, every hero to ever come out of the ashes. Every person to ever live, including you and me.” He said, gesturing between them. “Free will was an illusion, they controlled everything.” He stopped for a second, watching her for a reaction. She didn’t give much of one aside from her slightly wide eyes as she listened intently to his claims, trying to decide whether she believed him or not. “We blew up The Oculus to destroy all that,” he went on when he accepted that she wasn’t going to say anything just yet. “But we didn’t exactly have time to think through what might be the aftermath of it.” He admitted grudgingly, as though he were just realizing this as the words left his mouth and was internally cursing himself for not realizing it sooner. “It could be that the bomb opened a hole in the time stream.” He theorized and somehow the look of pure concentration on his face cemented it for Caitlin that she was living in a timeline more altered than she previously thought, which is really saying something. All of LA, one of the biggest mysteries in the world, isn’t a mystery at all. It’s an aberration.

“That would explain how you got here,” She found herself saying and Snart narrowed his eyes on her, silently asking for an explanation. “If The Oculus ripped a hole in the space time continuum, and you were right there, you would’ve been one of the first things to fall through it.” She theorized and he nodded, it was plausible and that was what he needed right now. Yet she could still see it on his face that it didn’t sound right to him, but he was going to go with it for now.

“I saw something the other day,” he began, “I’m not sure how normal random things falling from the sky is around here, but it looked like the Waverider. I’ve been moving in the direction it crashed, thought that by moving at night I’d have less of a chance at being eaten by a dinosaur.”

Caitlin nodded at his logic, even if it wasn’t the best because it meant that he was probably sleeping during the day and THAT is dangerous out here.

“You think Team Legend’s be able to fix this?” She asked and the way that Snart snorted at the name almost made her laugh, if it weren’t for the fact that he was talking about literally changing the world.

“Hopefully,” he settled on saying. “But I’m not going to get anywhere standing around in a ditch, so thanks for the save and the story, but I should be going.” He said with a mock salute and as he turned on his heel to climb out of the trench Caitlin knew that she should just let him go. But there was something bubbling inside of her chest, and before she knew it the words were out of her mouth.

“Take me with you,” she requested when he was already halfway up the dirt wall, surprising them both. He turned his head and saw her stunned expression matching his, before the mask of a cold-hearted bastard slid into place and his eyes dared her to take back her words. But she didn’t want to take it back, she found, and so she crossed her arms and met his gaze with a firm one of her own. “If you don’t remember this version of LA there is an excellent chance that the same can be said for the other Legends. You need someone who knows this reality.” She negotiated and he seemed to consider it.

“I don’t need anyone,” he insisted before sighing, “But if you want to tag along, I’ll admit that the nerd twins would rather listen to you than me about this.”

Caitlin wasn’t sure if she actually did want to tag along, or who the nerd twins are, though she had her suspicions about that one. Yet, when her legs decided to move, she found herself climbing up alongside the man who had once kidnapped her.


	2. Welcome to the Jungle

They ended up making camp for the remainder of the night, after Caitlin managed to convince Snart that they would be better off traveling during the day when there’s less of a chance they’ll accidently awaken another dinosaur. They didn’t talk much, just went right to sleep and picked up again when the sun came up, keeping one eye out for the Waverider and the other for something for breakfast.

“So,” Snart drawled after they hadn’t been walking for very long. “We know I got here via being shot out of the time stream, how did you end up here?”

Caitlin gave him a sideways glance, debating whether or not she wanted to get into this conversation. She didn’t, in all honesty. She didn’t come here to talk about what happened, she came to move on from it.

“I drove,” she ended up answering simply.

“Ok,” Snart said, his voice disbelieving. “Where did you take the wrong turn?”

Caitlin couldn’t help but smirk at the question, “I didn’t.” She answered, “It’s kind of hard to take a wrong turn when you don’t know where you’re going.”

“As usual Snow, I only understood about half of what you just said. So why don’t you enlighten me?” He requested and Caitlin rolled her eyes with a huff.

“I’d rather not,” she said bluntly, coldly, and uncharacteristically as far as Snart could be concerned. She regretted the words the moment that they left her lips, but she didn’t want to apologize and take them back. So she let him gape at her for a second, and told herself that she doesn’t owe Leonard Snart of all people an explanation for why she chose to come here. “What about you?” She found herself asking instead, “You said you ‘owed’ Rory, what did you do that was so bad you owed him your life?”

Briefly the image of Mick kneeling on the ground at the edge of the forest in the middle of nowhere 1958 flashed through Leonard’s mind. His partner’s nose and lips caked with dried blood from where Sara had kicked him.

_“You and I were a team!”_ The furious words echoed through his mind. Even with all that had happened after, from their fight in the brig to their conversation about Alexia, like nothing had ever happened between them, the words still stung.

When he pulled his attention away from the memories, Leonard found that Snow was watching him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Ok, are there any other recent life events that neither of us want to talk about?” He asked and a look of thoughtfulness came over his companion’s face, as though she were seriously considering the question.

“The last two years can’t have been all bad,” she finally mused and her words stopped Len in his tracks, which effectively halted her. “Snart?” She asked, looking at him curiously.

“I’ve been gone two years?” He asked and there was something in his eyes, something pleading that made her heart twist.

“You left in January 2016?” She asked and he nodded, “So it’s been more like a year and a half. It’s July 2017, though I’m not exactly sure what day today is, my phone died a few days ago.” She explained and he nodded, taking a minute to process the information before he once again began walking.

They were quiet for a long while, the next thing that even came close to conversation was when Caitlin finally caught sight of some bushes with fruit that was safe to eat, not that it was much but it was food.

“That’s one advantage of traveling at night,” Snart spoke up after they had each finished their handfuls of berries and set off moving again. “Hunting is a lot easier when the animals are asleep and don’t see you coming.”

“I’m assuming that’s how you woke up a dinosaur?” Caitlin found herself mocking and Leonard gave her a smirk, silently admitting that she had a point.

“At least I’ve had something more substantial than berries since getting here.” He shot back at her an she hummed in agreement, she had tried hunting but freezing a squirrel, while it worked for catching and killing it, kind of made eating it a little difficult.

“Like what?” She asked, “You don’t exactly have a gun,” she observed, “Have you been clubbing chipmunks to death with a rock?” She teased and he rolled his eyes before opening his jacket and removing a small knife from a hidden pocket.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever actually met Sara Lance, but she has a habit of carrying at least one lethal weapon around with her at all times, not that she isn’t a lethal weapon all on her own.” He began and Caitlin couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different about him in that moment. He seemed… lighter, almost. Not to mention that there was definitely a gleaming look of approval in his eyes. “Anyway, we knew storming The Oculus wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park. I noticed the knife a few hours after I landed here, she must have planted it on me before the fight.” And the lightness was gone, replaced by something that almost looked like regret on his face. But Caitlin decided not to mention it, assuming that whatever was behind it lay in the territory of “things not to discuss” they had somewhat established earlier.

“I met Sara in person this past year,” she said conversationally, since he HAD admitted that he wasn’t sure if they knew each other, and it was a topic she didn’t mind discussing. “Team Legends came to help us drive off an alien invasion. I didn’t talk to her much but she seems nice enough, and she’s a great captain.” She praised sincerely but when she met Snart’s eyes he was staring at her as if she were completely insane. “What?” She all but giggled, “You’ve traveled through time, is an alien invasion really that hard to comprehend?” She teased and he opened his mouth to speak, but then froze.

“Don’t move,” he instructed in a hushed tone, his narrowed eyes staring past her at something she didn’t dare turn around to face.

“What is it?” She whispered back, her heart frozen with fear but all her other muscles itching to move.

“Just walk this way,” Snart instructed quietly, gesturing to a cluster of bushes slightly diagonal from the direction they had been heading in. “Very, very slowly.”

“Why?” She demanded, still standing stock still even after he took a careful step backwards in the direction he had indicated.

“Because,” Snart all but hissed, clearly getting fed up with her questioning of him. “There is a pair of yellow eyes right behind you, and I’d rather not find out who they belong to.”

She didn’t mean to turn, but the temptation was too great and Snart didn’t have the time to stop her before she whirled around and was met with the sight of a large, golden shape with very sharp teeth lunging at her. With a frightened shriek she ducked to the side and just barely managed to escape being tackled. Turning around again she saw that the creature was a saber tooth leopard, and that Snart had also narrowly avoided it. Of course it didn’t like that and rounded with a snarl to make another leap for Caitlin. Thinking as fast as she could, Caitlin sent a blast of ice at the tiger and she managed to freeze its feet to the ground, effectively leaving Snart starring.

“That’s not going to hold it for long,” she said urgently as she pulled on his arm to get him moving and soon the two of them were tearing through the jungle as fast as they could, eyes peeled for some place safe to hide before the tiger inevitably broke through it’s icy restraints and caught up to them.

They were coming up with nothing, and the sounds of furious roars were beginning to draw closer, their assailant already speeding along their path and hot on their tales. But there was another sound too; rushing water. Before they knew it a deep river was in sight, the current looked a little rough but it was either that or the saber tooth killer behind them.

“Think we’ll make it over the river?” Len asked because even though he knew the answer, he figured it couldn’t hurt.

But sure enough Caitlin shook her head, “Not a chance.” She gasped and that was all there was time for, they had arrived at the edge of the small cliff that overlooked the river and they didn’t even slow down, just ran right off it.

One minute Leonard’s feet were pounding against the ground, the next there was nothing at all beneath him and all he could think to do was hold his breath and close his eyes, and then he was underwater.

It wasn’t too cold, but it wasn’t exactly warm either. He was being tossed and turned every which way by the current, but it wasn’t as strong as it had sounded from above and he was able to right himself. Clawing his way through the surface of the water he gasped for air and blinked the water from his eyes, scanning frantically in every direction for Caitlin.

“Snow!” He called out, looking back up to the bank to see if maybe she hadn’t jumped. “Snow!” He called again when he didn’t see her, and again he received no response.

Inhaling deeply, he dove back under the water and forced his eyes to stay open, trying to see through the dark blur of the submerged dirt walls and rocks. He saw nothing and soon had to break the surface once again for air.

That was when he saw it.

There was a shape not too far from him; close enough that he could tell almost immediately that it was Caitlin’s backpack.

“SNOW!” He shouted urgently, swimming closer to the backpack and, while he has never been a particularly religious man, praying to dear God that the bag was not still strapped to Caitlin’s shoulders.

But of course he had no such luck, and less than a minute later he had one arm treading water while the other reached down and yanked Caitlin up against him.

“Snow! Are you ok?” He demanded as she coughed through a few shuddering breaths, her whole body trembling under his grasp.

“Cold,” she managed to weakly stutter out and, while Len wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, he understood that staying in the middle of the river was only going to make things worse.

“Come on,” he said to her, although he knew she wasn’t going to be able to swim on her own. “I got you.” He assured her as he dragged her along with him and swam down river, gripping onto a few rocks and down branches as they went to rest for a few seconds at a time.

By the time they made it to a bank, Leonard felt almost as drained as Caitlin. But him collapsing wasn’t going to help anything, so he willed himself to push the fatigue away and not immediately hit his knees after he had dragged Caitlin onto the mud of the bank. Instead he helped her remove her backpack, to which she merely groaned and nothing else, before crouching beside her.

“Hey, stay with me.” He ordered, repeatedly tapping at her face with the fingers of one hand whilst the other cradled her head and tried to keep it up. “Stay with me, stay with me.”

She shuttered under his grasp, in fact she hadn’t stopped shuttering in the entire time they were in the river. “So co..cold.” She shivered and Len made a perplexed face, only now understanding that it hadn’t been his name that she said earlier.

He opened up her backpack and rifled through it, hoping that maybe she would have a jacket inside. Sure enough she did, along with a throw blanket. He helped her sit up and guided her into the jacket, zipping it up as high as it went, before wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. But she was still shivering, violently. They needed to keep moving but they weren’t going to get anywhere with her like this, and he certainly wasn’t going to leave her on the side of the river. So he re-zipped her now empty bag and shouldered it before grabbing underneath her arms and pulling her up.

“Come on,” he pleaded with her, “You don’t have to go far, just into the trees.” He promised, she was stumbling along with him and clutching the blanket tightly around herself.

By the time they got into the trees by the side of the bank Caitlin’s legs were already giving out. Len helped her lower herself gently to the ground, sitting her against a nearby tree stump. What he wouldn’t have given to have Mick here right now with a lighter, as he had never been much of a camper and Caitlin was in desperate need of a fire. Sure he was able to gather up plenty of dead wood and leaves, able to tell easily what would burn and what wouldn’t, but actually creating a fire? That was going to be a whole other challenge.

He knew how to do it; he had done it almost every night for over a week now by striking Sara’s blade against a few rocks until he could find the right one. But he was no expert and it usually took him some time to get it right, and time wasn’t exactly something Caitlin appeared to have a lot of. He picked up rock after rock after rock and swiped at each one with the knife until, finally, he got a small spark. He struck the rock again and again until he had a small fire going and led Caitlin over to sit by it.

She stretched her arms out in front of her, trying to get even closer to the warmth of the fire.

“S…Sorry.” She stuttered as he sank down next to her, stripping off his own jacket and laying it over her shoulders, on top of the blanket.

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her, we’ll move again in a few hours.”

* * *

 

They were quiet for a long time, even after Caitlin returned Leonard’s jacket to him with a quiet “thank you” they remained silently in front of the fire.

“Sara’s the captain now?” He finally asked and Caitlin looked at him. “When I… died.” He began, somewhat uncomfortably. “Rip was the Captain.”

Caitlin nodded; she had heard a stray comment or two about Rip Hunter during the invasion, something about him being missing.

“I don’t know what happened to Rip,” she admitted, “But Sara’s a good leader, everyone respects her.”

Leonard snorted at that, “I don’t doubt it.” He laughed, “It took less than one day for Sara to earn my respect, and I don’t respect anybody.”

Now it was Caitlin’s turn to snort, she knew very well just how true that statement was.

“They have two new members, too.” She said, realizing that if Sara being the Captain of the Legends was news to Snart than he most likely had never met Nate or Amaya either.

“Anyone interesting?” He asked and she shrugged.

“Nate Heywood, a man who can turn his skin into steel, and Amaya Jiwe from 1942, with a magic necklace that lets her summon the powers of animals.”

“So… A tin toy and Eliza Thornberry?” He asked mockingly and Caitlin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Not exactly but close enough,” she conceded and the quiet descended over them again.

“What happened?” Snart suddenly asked when he noticed her rubbing her hands up and down her arms, trying desperately to warm herself even though she knew such a thing would be impossible. “That water wasn’t warm by any means, but it certainly wasn’t cold enough to bring on hypothermia.”

“Maybe not in a normal person,” Caitlin answered, “But my powers have had some… interesting, effects on me. The last time I checked, my internal body temperature had dropped to almost thirty degrees lower than that of a normal person. I don’t know what happened, but I think the water brought my temperature down too low.”

Len nodded, that made some sense to him. Of course it was only a theory, but she seemed fairly certain that her powers were behind what happened and he was inclined to believe as much.

“I was wondering about those,” he admitted, “But I assumed they were a big part of that _do not discuss_ list.”

“They’re the reason the list exists.” She said and he nodded before she shrugged his jacket off her shoulders and handed it back to him, and then proceeded to pack away the blanket. “Alright, we’ve lost enough time sitting here.” She declared as she stood.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” He asked, also getting to his feet.

She nodded.

“I’m fine, let’s go.”


	3. It's a Small World

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Caitlin asked probably two days later than she should have.

They hadn’t gotten very far yesterday, not after they had to spend the majority of it getting her recovered from hypothermia. They picked up again early this morning and now it was well into the afternoon, and they still hadn’t found any sign of the Waverider.

“I know whatever crashed landed on the opposite side of the jungle from where I was.” Snart answered and Caitlin huffed.

“You don’t even know if it’s the Waverider, do you?” She asked and he scoffed at the question.

“Snow, we are standing in a literal hole in time. Even if it wasn’t the Waverider that I saw crash, it has to be here somewhere.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes, thinking that Snart sure had a lot of faith in this; especially for a man who has previously laid out every plan he’s ever had on things that he’s known for certain.

“Still, at this rate we’re heading out of the jungle.” She said but he only continued on in front of her.

“Good,” he said, “Less places out there for sabers to hide.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes again, not that she disagreed with him, and this time she stopped walking.

“We need an actual plan,” she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest when he turned to face her. “This place is huge, we can’t keep wandering around aimlessly, hoping we’ll stumble across the Waverider. We need a better plan.”

“Well what do you suggest?” He snapped, almost angrily, and in retrospect he had probably spent every second since he arrived here trying to come up with a better plan.

“I don’t know,” she exasperatedly admitted, “Maybe find a vantage point, somewhere we can see most of the ground from.”

“Do you have any idea how high that would have to be?” He demanded, almost as exasperated as she was. “To see nearly all of LA?”

“On the other side of all these trees is a whole mess of buildings that could’ve come from any point in history; past, present, and future. One of them is bound to be tall enough.” She suggested and he considered her words for a moment before nodding, if only a little reluctantly.

With that decided they continued on through what was left of the jungle, trying to avoid any more prehistoric hunters in the process. Eventually they came to the end, brining them into the more urbanized area of LA, not that it was any safer than the trees.

“That one,” Snart said immediately, pointing to a far off building that to Caitlin almost looked like a 2.0 version of the Space Needle.

“Why that one?” She asked, hands on her hips as she looked up at it. “Not that I’m complaining, just… why?”

“It’s the tallest one in the skyline.” Snart answered and she huffed.

“It’s also one of the farthest.” She said but he merely shrugged and resumed walking.

“Then we better get moving.” He said as he went and Caitlin rolled her eyes but fell into step ever so slightly behind him.

 

They walked throughout the rest of the day but didn’t make it to their building before the sun went down, and of course once it was dark out their chances of being able to distinguish the Waverider in the view from the top of the building decreased dramatically. There were still some areas of woods in this part of LA, nowhere near as dense and dangerous as the jungle but still enough to provide some shelter. (They tried going into a nearby building for the night, but opening the door revealed that it was inhabited by a tribe angry looking monkeys. Needless to say, they weren’t exactly eager to try another one.)

After getting a little fire going and eating whatever they had managed to catch for dinner it was quiet, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

“Want to tell me any more about this alien Invasion?” Snart finally broke the silence and, after blinking at him once or twice while she processed the question, Caitlin shrugged.

“They were called the Dominators.” She began, “One of their ships crashed in Central City one night, Barry went to check it out and came back shouting about aliens.” Snart gave an amused smirk at that, no doubt picturing Barry’s face when he went to a crash site and E.T. came running out. “Anyway, long story short, they were launching an invasion so we called all the other teams and together we managed to drive them away.”

“That’s it?” Snart asked disbelievingly, “Aliens invade the earth and all you’ve got to tell me about it is a recycled lesson about friendship and teamwork?” He went on and Caitlin couldn’t help but snort.

“Well it wasn’t exactly a win on the first shot.” She admitted, “Let’s see… First we had eight people put under the mind control of the Dominators, then we had five people captured by them, and then Barry tried sacrificing himself but once we all threatened him out of it we were able to focus on fighting and that was when we managed to drive them off.” She elaborated and Snart raised a skeptical eyebrow at her.

“You want to tell me what happened when aliens took control of eight superheroes?” He asked, not really bothering to hide that he was interested, and she smirked.

“It was hell for Barry and Oliver,” she admitted with a laugh, “I was only monitoring, not fighting.”

“Before the powers kicked in?” Snart interrupted and Caitlin felt her face, and her heart, fall.

“Before I was comfortable with using them,” she politely, if a little awkwardly, corrected. Snart nodded, seeming to understand that he had struck a nerve and, while he wouldn’t be apologizing, he wasn’t going to press the issue. “Anyway, the Dominators took control of Supergirl, Barry’s friend from another Earth, Thea, Ray, John, Sara, Mick, and both halves of Firestorm. It was hard for Barry and Oliver told hold them all off, and Wally got pretty banged up, but eventually Barry tricked Supergirl into destroying the signal that was broadcasting the mind control.” She elaborated, noticing that Snart had looked slightly disturbed, or maybe furious would be a better word, ever since she listed off those who had been under the Dominator’s control.

“Who did they capture?” He suddenly asked, his voice serious and almost threatening.

“Um… Oliver, Ray, John, Thea, and Sara.” She answered; wracking her brain twice over just to be sure that she hadn’t forgotten anyone.

“They had Sara under mind control, and they captured her?” He asked disbelievingly, and Caitlin almost wanted to point out that literally every person who had been captured, with the exception of Oliver, had also been part of the mind control group, but she thought better of it.

“Yeah, why?” She asked instead and, just like that, Snart’s usual uncaring nature returned, not that she believed this time was real.

“Nothing,” he insisted, “Just that I’ve seen Sara after brainwashing, close to mind control. She was not happy. I’ve also seen her captured in battle, pissed would’ve been an understatement afterwards. So to deal with them both in one day, I’d hate to be the alien on the other end of her fist when she breaks out.” He explained and although Caitlin nodded acceptingly of the answer, she knew it was a load of bull. “Whose Wally?” He suddenly changed the topic, and this time Caitlin furrowed her brow.

“Wally.” She stated simply, “You know, Iris’s younger brother?” She asked it more than said it, because Savitar had told her everything that he knew Barry would try in order to save Iris, including his last ditch effort of recruiting Snart from the first time and place that S.T.A.R. Labs’ Gideon could pinpoint him. There was no possible way he hadn’t come across Wally on that mission.

“I thought Iris was an only child, aside from Barry, but I try not to think about that because of the whole pining crush thing.” He drawled and it only deepened Caitlin’s confusion.

“Snart, Barry and Iris are engaged. You had to have known that.”

“Can’t say I did,” he said with a shake of the head, “Although it’s about damn time, those two were more insufferable to watch than the leads of a TV show, dancing around their feelings.” He commented but Caitlin remained unimpressed.

“So you’re telling me,” she began, disbelievingly. “That when Barry went and picked you up in Siberia 1892 and brought you back to May 2017, he never once mentioned that he and Iris were engaged and you never once ran into Wally?”

“No,” He insisted, “Although that might be because I’ve never been to Siberia, or 1892, and thought I was dead throughout all of May 2017.”

“But Barry went back and-” She cut herself off with that, a look of dawning realization falling over her face. “It was a future version of you.” She said, “He didn’t take you from before the Oculus, he took you from after.”

“Ok, what does that mean?” Snart asked and she thought on it, before shrugging.

“Not much, actually.” She realized, “Just that you’ll end up back on the Waverider, so hopefully that means we will find it here.”

Snart nodded, accepting that answer, and it wasn’t long after that the two of them decided to get some sleep.

* * *

 

“Snow? Snow?” Caitlin gave a murmured groan in response, pulling her still damp blanket up to her chin as she tried to will away the voice whispering into her ear. “Snow!” It called with a little more urgency and as she recognized it as Snart, and remembered that they are camping in LA and therefor there could be some very real danger nearby, her eyes snapped open and she rolled onto her back.

“What?” She asked, Snart was a few feet away from her, crouched on his toes and his eyes watching her before he saw she was awake and looked around. He was clearly on alert, listening for something. “What is it?” She asked again, suddenly on alert herself.

“Do you hear that?” He asked as she sat up and listened.

“Hear what?” She asked when she heard nothing, but Snart only furrowed his brow in concentration.

There it was.

A far off sound of what almost sounded like dozens of small explosions, and Snart actually smiled like the cat that got the canary.

“What is it?” She asked, slightly off-put by the wicked grin on Snart’s face.

“One of those explosions isn’t a blast, it’s a stream.” He said and, although still very confused, Caitlin listened closer. There was one sound that stood out when she listened for it, one that didn’t stop after a second like the others, but after a full minute. “What is it?” She asked,

“Mick.” Snart answered simply, only when he said the name of his partner did Caitlin realize that she was in fact, without a doubt, listening to the distant sound of the heat gun Cisco had created.

“Cisco didn’t design those things to be loud,” Caitlin said more to herself than to Snart, before she began frantically stuffing her blanket into her backpack and loading it onto her shoulders. “They can’t be far.”

Snart was already on his feet by the time she said it, and so was she. It didn’t take more than a glance to each other for them to decide their next move.

They took off running.

They followed the sound out of the trees and down a street, where it was growing louder.

“It’s just around the corner!” Snart called over his shoulder to Caitlin, not that she was more than two steps behind him.

They rounded the corner and immediately skidded to a stop.

There was a ring of fire encompassing nearly half the street, and in the center of it was not one, but two T-Rex’s. Mick had obviously created the fire, and flying above the dinosaurs was Ray, sending out photon blasts. No one else was around, and against two of histories most vicious hunters Mick and Ray weren’t going to last much longer alone.

“The fire’s only aggravating them more,” Caitlin observed just as Mick torched one of the dinosaurs in the leg, and as a result narrowly avoided being eaten right then.

“Well he can’t outrun it, might as well bring the heat.” Snart reasoned and Caitlin hummed in agreement.

“What do you say we bring the cold?” She asked; a small smile creeping it’s way onto her face as she brought up her hands, an icy chill already escaping them.

“Ladies first,” he replied with a matching smirk and so she took off.

Leonard looked on in stunned amazement when Snow took off not on her feet, but up on a long, swirling stretch of ice that she continued to create as she went. Briefly he registered that she was practically flying, and yet she had never mentioned she could do such a thing while they had been walking for days. But he quickly decided that she must have her reasons for not bringing this up before, and besides, she had now reached the dinosaurs and it was quite a sight to see Raymond stopped mid air, and Mick staring up with his mouth agape, as she sent icy blasts at the two beasts until they eventually retreated. Once they were gone, and she began her decent to the ground alongside Raymond, Len decided that he had better join the group.

“Snow?” He heard Mick ask once she and Raymond were standing beside him, Raymond looking just as shocked as the arsonist.

“Amazing what you find in this place,” Leonard drawled as he approached, all eyes turning to him and two shocked expressions amplifying hilariously.

“Snart?” Raymond asked and he nodded.

“In the flesh,” he confirmed, though he didn’t like the distrustful look in Mick’s eye, or the snarl on his face.

“No,” his old partner growled, “You’re another trick.” He said and at that Len arched an eyebrow, and looked to Snow for an explanation but she appeared just as lost as him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Mick,” he said, “But it’s me.” He was insistent, his voice bordering on begging involuntarily. He hadn’t realized until this very moment, when it looked like his friends were going to deny him, just how much he truly wanted to go back to the Waverider.

“No,” Raymond, possibly history’s biggest optimist, agreed with Mick. “You’re from the past, you’re with the Legion, you’re not the Snart that we lost.” Now Len was even more confused, wondering what “The Legion” was but he found that he didn’t really care, he only cared about the ever-growing ache inside of his chest.

“No Ray, he is the Snart you knew.” Caitlin spoke up, moving to stand beside him and Len didn’t miss how not just Ray, but Mick too, reached out to stop her only to be too late. “He told me all about the Oculus.”

“Darhk could’ve told him that,” Mick rumbled and that peaked Len’s interest. He had no idea who Darhk was but, by the sounds of it, Mick doesn't exactly like him.

“He saved my life yesterday.” Snow continued to plead on his behalf and that, at least, garnered a surprised reaction from both Ray and Mick. “Ray,” she went on pleadingly, “Do you trust me?” She asked and, almost to Len’s surprise, the other man nodded.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Well I don’t trust you,” Mick piped up and Len fought the urge to roll his eyes, while Raymond and Snow just looked over at the arsonist taking a step closer to the new arrivals. “From what I hear, this wouldn’t be the first time somebody lied to you.” He taunted, eyes locked on Caitlin.

For a moment there was silence, nothing but heavy tension, then a flash of recognition went through Caitlin’s eyes and the next thing anybody knew she had landed a hard right hook to Mick’s jaw.

Mick stumbled back, and looked up with fire in his eyes as if to retaliate, which Len knew could only end badly.

“Mick,” he snapped, “You’re problem isn’t with her, it’s with me. Now I don’t know what this legion that you’re talking about is, but I promise you I am the Leonard Snart that held down the Oculus.”

“Ok,” Mick rumbled, “Prove it.” He challenged, now getting into Leonard’s face and staring him down. “The Legion could’ve told you about what you did, but they weren’t there, they don’t know everything that happened on that ship. So my question is, on the first day, who punched Hunter in the face?”

“First Kendra, for letting her son get hurt, and then Sara, for lying.” He answered and at first Mick looked shocked, and Len could tell that his friend finally believed him.


	4. Reunion

There are sometimes, specifically since becoming Captain, where Sara finds herself feeling like a parent. Now would be a perfect example, as she sits lounging in her flight chair doing nothing but watching TV. She would’ve liked to have gone to bed by now, like the others still on board, but Ray and Mick were still yet to return and so she would wait up for them. She glanced anxiously at the clock, they hadn’t been gone long enough that she was genuinely worried but it was definitely starting to creep in. The two of them had gone to retrieve a part for the ship, and although they didn’t have far to go things in broken LA don’t appear to ever be easy.

Just then, however, the sound of the hatch door opening interrupted Sara’s thoughts and she smiled to herself, the boys had made it home. She frowned, then, when she heard the sound of footsteps racing down the corridors and growing closer, accompanied by Ray urgently calling out her name.

“Sara! Sara! Sara! Sara!” She was on her feet and turning to leave the bridge within a second, ready to help take down whatever was coming behind Ray. But just as she made it to the doorway he was there, skidding to a stop and bracing his hands onto her shoulders in order to still himself. “Sara!” He continued panting and she, not sure what else to do, lay her own hands on his shoulders.

“What? Ray, what’s wrong?” She demanded, her brow furrowing when she noticed that he was _smiling._ A wicked grin was split across his face, his eyes wide with excitement as he caught his breath.

“It…. He…. You, you’re never gonna believe this!” He stammered, unable to get out one coherent sentence.

“Ray clam down, what happened?” Sara kept her voice calm, she was no longer worried but she was very, very confused.

“We… we were on our way back and… and there were these dinosaurs. There were two of them! I mean, I lived among dinosaurs for awhile, so I know it’s not unusual for T-Rex’s to hunt in packs, I think there might have been more nearby but-”

“Ray!” Sara interrupted, “Get to the point,” she all but demanded.

“Right, right sorry.” He went on, not even fazed by her impatience. “Anyway, it was just me and Mick, but then! You’ll never believe-!”

“We picked up two strays.” Mick cut Ray off this time, appearing behind the overly excited, and actually bouncing on his heels, man, with two other people behind him.

One of the people was woman who Sara knew she had seen somewhere before but she couldn’t quite place where, not that she was focused on trying. No, her attention was on the second person Mick had brought in.

He was standing at the back of the group, his blue eyes locked with hers. They held recognition, he knew who she was. He remembered her, everything, me and you; Sara could see it all written in the features of his stunned face.

“Snart?” She found herself asking, he nodded dumbly.

“How’ve you been, assassin?” He asked, gathering his wits, with a playful gleam in his eye that fell a little flat in the moment but still had her breath catching in her throat all the same.

“It’s really him Sara,” Ray interjected, like she really needed to be told that. “It’s really our Snart.”

She nodded, moving her attention to the woman now. “You look familiar…” She trailed off; admittedly a little embarrassed that she was having trouble placing this woman’s face.

“We met last winter,” she said as she took a step forward, and when she did Sara was almost sure she knew who she was, but it just couldn’t be. “Caitlin Snow,” she introduced herself, confirming Sara’s suspicions.

“Right,” The blonde said with a nod before she looked back to Mick and Ray, who were both watching her expectantly. However she had no idea what they were waiting for, or rather she didn’t want to admit that she did. But she had more pressing matters to deal with than her buried feelings for the crook standing before her, even if such matters had the potential to be equally messy. So she turned her attention back to Caitlin and Snart. “Two questions,” she started, first pointing to Caitlin. “What are you doing all the way out in LA?” Her finger moved to Snart, “And how did you get here?”

“I’m assuming I fell out of the time stream when the Oculus blew, all I know for sure is I woke up in the middle of the jungle out there.” Leonard answered her question as best he could, but it was clear he really didn’t know exactly how he had gone from the Oculus at the end of the timeline, to here.

“I drove,” Caitlin answered with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

There was a brief moment of awkwardness at that, as nobody had expected to hear that Caitlin just casually drove into the mother of all time aberrations. Ray looked nervous while Mick looked impressed, and Len just looked like he was fighting the urge to face palm.

“Do you need a ride home?” Sara finally asked, figuring that there was no possible way that Caitlin had driven here on purpose. Yet, she got a shake of the head in response.

“No,” She replied, “I’m staying out of Central City for awhile.” At that the boys all looked to her in surprise, even Leonard, but Sara only nodded. She could understand the need for a fresh start, and the desire not to talk about it.

“Well you’re welcome to stay on the Waverider if you want,” she offered and Caitlin smiled acceptingly.

“Thank you,” she said and so with that Sara turned her attention back to Snart.

“What about you?” She asked; he raised an eyebrow at her.

“What about me?” He drawled,

“Are you going to stick around?”

“If there’s room for me, Captain.”

Sara smirked, a mocking grin that he matched expertly. With that matter settled she turned her attention away from the group for the first time since they walked in.

“Gideon,” she began, “Tell everyone to report to the bridge, we need to have a family meeting.”

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for the rest of the team to file in, each wanting to know what was going on that they all had to be woken up at nearly two-thirty in the morning. However Sara didn’t need to answer any of them, the sight of Leonard Snart standing off to the side of the room was enough to do that.

“Whoa, what’s he doing here?” Nate demanded angrily, holding an arm out protectively in front of Amaya.

Snart raised his eyebrow at the newbie’s reaction to seeing him, sure the guy could still be under the impression that he’s a good for nothing thief but… the guy also works with Mick. Besides, something seemed odd about the way he jumped into defense mode over his little girlfriend; something in his eyes made it look like his hatred was personal.

“Relax Pretty, he’s with us.” Mick spoke in defense of Leonard, rolling his eyes despite his own initial distrust of his partner not even twenty minutes ago.

“Snart?” Jax asked in awe as he too noticed the former Legend, and heard Mick’s claim. “Is it really you?”  
“Can’t get rid of me that easy kid,” Snart answered, the kid’s question pulling him away from his observation of Mick and the newbie.

Jax’s face lit up in a smile at the confirmation that it was really the crook they had known, marking him, surprisingly, as the first so excited to see him. He crossed over to Len with his hand up for a high five, a gesture that Snart accepted even after it turned out to be a ploy for a partial hug.

“Apparently not,” Jax praised just as he let go of the recently returned man, knowing that it’s still Snart and it’s best not to push his luck.

“Miss Snow?” Stein exclaimed, seemingly the only one focused on their other guest. “Is that you?”

Caitlin gave a small wave accompanied by a shy but still friendly smile, “Hi Professor.”

“Alright, so…” Sara began, grabbing everybody’s attention. “I’m sorry for waking half of you up in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want anyone waking up tomorrow very confused because of two extra people on the ship, as entertaining as that would be. You all know Leonard and Caitlin, Len this is Nate and Amaya.” She went on, gesturing to the two, very uneasy looking, Legends who had joined the team following the Oculus. “Len and Caitlin both said they want to stick around, so play nice. That’s it.” She finished, still eyeing Nate and Amaya who still looked more than a little worried about all this.

She was hoping that they might simply roll their eyes and return to bed, and Amaya looked content to do just that. Unfortunately Nate was another story and as Sara was trying to leave the room he pulled her aside.

“Hey,” he whispered, “Are you sure about this?” He asked, “I mean, I get that Snart was a Legend before… whatever happened to him.” He trailed off awkwardly, suddenly realizing that while he had guessed by now that Leonard Snart had been a Legend at one point before his death, he had no actual idea how that death had occurred. The team never liked to talk about it.

“This is our Snart,” Sara assured him, “He’s not the same man we fought as part of the Legion-”

“But that man came from 2014, he was that man once.” Nate cut off and so help Sara she looked like the only reason she crossed her arms over her chest was to keep herself from slapping him across the face.

“And I was an assassin once,” she countered, “People change, give him a chance.”

 

* * *

 

“Alright Mick,” Leonard drawled as he and his partner neared his old room, which apparently had remained untouched in all the time he had been gone. “Spill.”

“Spill what?” Mick questioned, “I told ya the Oculus didn’t make this mess, we did, after we went to our past selves for help after we failed a mission that basically destroyed history.”

“And yet you won’t tell me who you were fighting,” Len observed, “Or what this Legion you keep mentioning is, why you called me a _trick_ on the street back there, who Darhk is, or why Sara made it sound like the newbies know me when I sure as hell have never met either of them.” He was trying not to sound angry, but he hadn’t missed it when Nate caught Sara before she could leave the bridge and started whispering with her. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but if Sara’s face was anything to go by it wasn’t a friendly chat, and after Nate’s reaction Leonard was almost certain the conversation had had something to do with him. “There are too many holes in the story Mick, and if you don’t start filling them in I’ll get Gideon to do it.” It wasn’t really a threat, more like a warning that he was going to find out what was going on no matter what.

Mick sighed; he looked like a kid who just got busted cheating on a spelling test with one last chance at the truth before his parents would chew him out for lying as well.

“Remember the arms deal in 1975?” He asked with a wince and Len nodded, “Remember Perfect Race?” He went on and Len thought back to the first mission, to the blonde man who had approached them after Stein accidently purchased a nuclear warhead.

“Yeah,” he said, “What about him?”

“His name was Damian Darhk.” Mick revealed, “He and these two other assholes started traveling through time, hunting down this Spear of Destiny. Eventually they made a pit stop in 2014 and picked up another recruit. You. After we took them down we erased your memory so that you’d forget all about it but… you did things, Snart. You fought against us.” That was all that he said, but Leonard could tell that there was something his friend was leaving out. They had arrived at his old room by now, and suddenly Leonard didn’t want to go inside. “Pretty will get over it eventually,” Mick went on as they came to a stop in front of the familiar door. They just stood there for a minute, neither of them knowing really what to say or do now. “It’s good to have you back.” Mick finally decided on and, with that, he gave his old friend an assuring squeeze of the shoulder before turning and heading for his own room.

It didn’t make Len feel any better. He couldn’t care less what Nate might think of him, he didn’t know the guy from Adam. But there was something about the way Mick spoke of him having done _things._ He knew those things couldn’t have been anything good; what he needed to know was what they were, and whom they affected.


	5. Bruised

It was Sara who brought Caitlin to her room.

The blonde explained that the Waverider was built with ten living quarters, enough for a crew of nine (including the Captain) and one extra. She also explained that this room used to belong to Carter before he and Kendra left, not that he ever used it much with having died on the first mission and then left the team shortly after returning. The room reminded Caitlin a bit of a college dorm, which she had a feeling was exactly how the entire ship was going to feel at times. After she was left alone she huffed out a sigh and dropped her backpack onto the chair by the desk, not bothering to open it just yet. She then let herself collapse backwards onto the bed with a flop; this hadn’t been part of her plan. She left Central City to be on her own, not to trade one team for another. She still had no idea what she had been thinking when she asked Snart to bring her with him to the Waverider, or when she’d accepted Sara’s invitation to stay just minutes ago.

She thought, briefly, about getting up and leaving without a word. But really, on such a crowded ship, the chances of getting out unseen were slim to none. Besides, she thought as sleep finally began to overtake her, LA is a dangerous place; it might be nice to have people to watch her back.

 

* * *

 

Leonard lay awake in his bed, the very same bed that he had lay awake in so many times before. Normally it was thoughts of Sara that kept him up. Thoughts about how he couldn’t allow her to get close to him, how he should avoid her, how that plan went off the rails very quickly and he soon found himself thinking about how much he didn’t want to leave her once Savage was dead and the team went back to 2016.

Only that isn’t what happened.

He died, or they thought he did anyway. Savage died, but the Legends didn’t disband. They remained a team, even with Kendra, Carter, and Rip all mysteriously gone. They fought against his past self, and he did _things_ while fighting against them. Sara took over as Captain of this motley crew. Two more people came on board and looked at him nervously, one even went out of his way to talk to Sara about it. As Leonard lay awake staring at the ceiling, he realized that he had more questions floating through his head than answers.

“Gideon?” He whispered, though he wasn’t entirely sure why given that he was alone.

“Yes Mr. Snart?” The AI’s reply came as chipper as it ever was, and Len smiled to himself; at least there were some things that hadn’t changed in his absence.

“What happened to Kendra and Carter, and Rip?” He asked, figuring that he may as well start at the beginning of his long list of questions.

“Ms. Saunders and Mr. Hall both left the Waverider willingly, after the defeat of Vandal Savage they wanted to live out their lives peacefully. Currently, they are living together in St. Roch.” Leonard smiled just a little at that, he hadn’t really been worried about the hawks, but it was still nice to hear that they’re doing ok. “As for Captain Hunter, he also departed from the team willingly. I believe he mentioned something about needing to explore history for a purpose, and the possibility of visiting Mr. Hex for some advise.”

That surprised Leonard a little more, as he had always believed that even if they could have saved Rip’s family he still wouldn’t ever part with the Waverider, and he suspected that so long as the Englishman isn’t dead he will eventually return.

“Ok, next question.” He drawled, “Mick said that I did _things_ while I was with this Legion, but that he wiped my memory after. I need to know what I did.”

“I must advise against that Mr. Snart.” Gideon replied and Len raised an eyebrow.

“Why?” He asked; it’s not like him knowing now what he had done against the team could affect the timeline.

“The acts that you committed under The Legion of Doom were part of a altered timeline, one where you were aware of your ultimate fate at the Oculus but not of the events leading up to it. You were not aware of why your future self would choose self-sacrifice and you were acting in self defense to prevent it from happening, and with the timeline restored these events technically never happened to you.”

Leonard gulped, suddenly very nervous. You knew you were in deep trouble when the computer started trying to talk you out of something by using a technicality.

“What did I do?” His voice had turned back into a whisper, and a shaky whisper at that.

“Are you certain you wish to know that information, Mr. Snart?” Gideon asked one more time and, though it held no meaning to an AI, Len nodded.

“Please,” he begged and if an AI could sigh, he was almost certain that this one just did.

“Very well,” she relented, “According to my logs, your past self from 2014 traveled with The Legion of Doom back to the year 1916, to the World War One Battle of the Somme. You then confronted Mr. Rory out behind the field medical tents where he mistook you for a hallucination, until you punched him in the face. You then assisted Damian Darhk and Malcolm Merlyn in attacking both the current Waverider crew and the alternate versions of them that had traveled from a future where the Legion of Doom had succeeded in obtaining the Spear of Destiny.” Leonard almost asked why Gideon hadn’t wanted to tell him any of this. It didn’t sound so bad, and it was nothing compared to some of the things he’s done in his past that he _does_ remember. But then, he realized that there was something she still hadn’t told him.

“What happened in that battle?” He asked, his suspicion growing when Gideon hesitated before answering.

“The alternate versions of the team were time aberrations, they were destined to fade out of existence once the battle concluded-”

“Gideon,” Leonard all but sneered, who knew an AI could take to stalling?

“You murdered the alternate version of Mr. Rory.”

Leonard felt his blood run cold.

He had killed Mick.

An alternate version of Mick, one that was an aberration and destined to fade into oblivion anyway, but still Mick. His stomach twisted at the thought that not only did he do it, but that his past self did it. The him from 2014, the same one who Mick had once called a hero only about a year earlier. (Len still hadn’t figured that one out, since his partner hadn’t seemed drunk at the time.) Back in 2014, Mick was one of only two people whom Leonard had trusted. He had been his partner, his friend, his brother, and he killed him.

Even after Lewis, even growing up with all those fears that he could one day become Lewis, Leonard had never once thought he had that kind of darkness in him.

* * *

 

Waking up in the morning Caitlin didn’t linger in bed for very long, although she was tempted. But she was also tempted by the idea of a breakfast that she didn’t risk her life for and consisted of more than wild berries. She wandered her way around the ship until she came into the galley, where despite the early hour Mick was already up and opening a beer. She turned to leave when she saw him, but apparently it was too little too late.

“Looking for something, Elsa?” He asked and she snarled under her breath, then turned back to him with a frown still on her face.

“Breakfast,” she answered simply and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

“Replicator’s right there, though I can tell you right now it only makes stuff that’s sugar free so some things taste like crap. Haircut keeps some cereal and Pop Tarts in the cabinet.”

Caitlin nodded and made her way for the replicator, and after spending a minute or two figuring out how it worked she sat down at an empty table with her omelet and coffee. Mick spared her a quick glance, as if confirming that she was sitting away from him, and when he did she noticed the purpling mark blooming around his eye. She ignored it and returned to her food, not particularly regretful of her actions last night. The two of them ate in silence for a bit until Sara walked in.

“You ever think it might be a little early to be drinking, Mick?” The blonde asked but the arsonist merely snorted at her.

“Nope,” he answered simply and while Sara rolled her eyes she went on with her business of pouring out a bowl of Ray’s cereal. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

Caitlin looks up at the question, slightly curious herself, as Sara claimed the seat next to Mick with a huff.

“More repairs,” she all but groaned, “Good news is that part you and Ray got last night should be the last we need, unless we discover something else broken. Jax thinks we should be done fixing the ship by tomorrow, and then the real work will begin.”

“What’s the real work?” Caitlin couldn’t help but ask, even if she did shrink back just a little when both Mick and Sara looked over at her.

“Fixing all the anchorisims,” Sara answered, “We can’t fly each one back to it’s proper place in history individually, it’ll take forever. So we’re trying to see if there’s a faster way to repair the time stream.”

Caitlin nodded but she didn’t say anything, as resetting a timeline has been more Barry’s area of expertise than hers, and anyway, that was when Amaya entered the room.

“Morning,” she called to the three of them, and received murmured echoes of her greeting from Mick and Sara.

As she past Mick, however, she stopped. She looked at him with an inquisitive gaze and when he noticed he set his beer down and looked up, resulting in her leaning halfway over the counter that separated them and gently placing her hand on his chin to turn his face ever so slightly to the side.

“What happened to your eye?” She asked about the forming bruise he had there and he merely pulled his face away from her grasp with a noncommittal grunt.

“Ran into a few of Haircut’s friends last night, one of ‘em got me with its tail.”

Caitlin raised her eyebrow at the excuse, knowing very well that it was not at all what happened. Amaya seemed to see through the lie as well, but she didn’t press the issue any further. Instead she simply turned back to her previous task of making breakfast for herself.

 

* * *

 

When Leonard deiced to get dressed in the morning, after a very sleepless night, he found that his room really hadn’t been touched in all the time he had been gone. His clothes were exactly where he’d left them in the dresser, not a single thing missing. Well actually that wasn’t true, his parka was missing, but he assumed that wherever it was, Mick knew. So he didn’t worry about his trademark jacket and instead pulled on his other, more casual, one. He then left and headed for the galley, knowing that would be as good a place as any to find Mick. A part of him wondered if he really wanted to do this, but the rest of him knew that he was never going to get any peace if he didn’t. He could only hope that Mick was eating breakfast alone like he used to.

He wasn’t so lucky.

When he arrived in the galley Mick was there, and so were Sara, Amaya, Snow, and Raymond.

“Snart!” Raymond exclaimed excitedly from where he was sitting next to Snow, apparently still buzzing with the thrill of having discovered the two of them last night.

“Raymond,” Snart greeted with a nod before settling his eyes, unwillingly, onto Sara. She was staring right back at him, and when he looked she yanked her attention away and began stirring the milk around her cereal bowl.

Leonard tried to ignore the pang of hurt in his chest at that, he had other things to worry about, anyway.

“Mick,” he said and his partner snapped his head up, “A word please?”

All eyes then turned to Mick, who looked just as confused but slid off his barstool all the same and followed Len out of the room.

The two of them walked in silence until they reached Mick’s room, since it was closer than Leonard’s.

“Yeah?” Mick asked, his brows furrowed in confusion, especially with the hint of what he could swear was fear in his partner’s eyes.

“Gideon told me about 1916, and the other version of the team that traveled back from a failed future-”

“Yeah… that was weird.” Mick interrupted but Leonard paid it no mind.

“She told me that I killed the other you.”

Mick’s eyes closed in defeat, and that was all the confirmation Leonard needed in order to know that not only was the accusation of himself true, but that Mick indeed had known.

“Seriously Gideon?” The arsonist asked up at the ceiling in frustration.

“Sorry Mr. Rory, but Mr. Snart was insistent that he wanted to know.” Gideon replied and Mick growled.

“Mick,” Len snapped, keeping his friend’s mind on track with the matter at hand.

Mick huffed, bringing his attention back to his friend, and sighed.

“Look,” he began, “I didn’t tell you because it doesn’t matter. As far as I’m concerned that guy was nothing but a glitch in the timeline, and even if he wasn’t it wouldn’t matter. I don’t know what the Legion did to you, but that wasn’t the guy I knew three years ago.”

“What do you mean?” Len asked,

“I mean I saw you kill him.” He confessed, “Iced him from behind, right through the chest. The Leonard I knew in 2014 may have been a cold-hearted bastard, but even if you were all kinds of pissed at me, even if you had decided to kill me back then, you never would’ve ended me like that.”

Leonard felt his heart break at the description of how he had done what he did. Mick was right though; no matter what was going on he would never end Mick as if he were nothing.

“The Legion twisted you Leonard, and I’ll bet you anything that you knew which me you were killing, and that he was expendable.” He left the _unlike me_ unspoken. He knows from experience what it’s like to have your memories and your emotions twisted to the point where you can barely recognize them. It’s not an easy thing to accept, to move on from, and having people holding grudges against you for it doesn’t help any.

Len was going to respond, but there was no time. The entire ship had begun to shake and the lights flickered before going dark, leaving them with nothing but the red emergency lights.

“What’s going on Gideon?” He ended up asking instead.

“It appears that the ship is under attack.” Gideon replied, her voice almost sounding as if she were completely fine with being attacked.

“From what?” Mick demanded, because everything in warped LA is so weird they had decided not to waste power cloaking the ship, and so far nothing had bothered them.

“I am not sure, but Captain Lance is requesting that everyone report to the bridge immediately.”

Captain Lance, despite the seriousness of the situation and the obvious danger Leonard couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corner of his lips or the hint of pride in his chest, that was one change in his absence he didn’t think he would have difficulty adjusting to. Anyway, he and Mick raced to the bridge where the others were gathering by the front windows of the ship.

“What’s going on?” He asked as they joined the group, Sara looking briefly over her shoulder at them before turning back.

“Nothing good,” she answered and, just as she spoke, something that appeared to be a large, pink, tentacle slapped against the window and the ship rocked again.

Oh yeah, definitely nothing good.


	6. Attack of the Jellyfish

“What is that thing?” Nate asked as the ship rocked yet again before settling, like the creature outside was trying to move them but failing.

“Whatever it is, it took out the ship’s power.” Jax grumbled as he peered over the main console before straightening up and looking over at Sara, who was watching him expectantly. “I’m going to head down to the engine room,” he informed her and she nodded.

“Keep us posted,” she called after him just as the ship jolted _again._ Everyone grabbed onto the nearest object for safety, or even person in some cases. Most of them grabbed chairs or the windowsill, but Mick and Len were in the very back of the group still by the window. Mick’s hand came down on Amaya’s shoulder and the woman didn’t even flinch. As for Len, well, Sara was the nearest thing for his to grab and his hand instinctually went for her, but he stopped it. Instead he resolved to plant his feet and, when the shaking became too much, he leaned back against the edge of the control panel behind him.

The ship seemed to actually get off the ground this time, if only by an inch or two, before it was dropped and landed back on the ground with a harsh thud.

“Is everybody ok?” Sara asked amidst the chorus of groans after the impact.

“Reasonably,” Stein answered, “Although I have a feeling that this is only going to get much worse.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a safe bet.” Nate said with a gulp, his attention still directed out the window.

The others followed his gaze, now that the giant tentacle was away from the window they could see that not too far away from their ship was, of all things, a ginormous jellyfish looking creature floating in the sky.

“The hell?” Amaya muttered as everyone gathered their bearings and once again crowded the front window of the ship.

There was a third one, they could see now. The two that they could see were paying no mind to the Waverider, instead distracted by various other things on the ground such as a few animals and even some smaller buildings. Len soon found himself looking over at Caitlin, who was still staring outside of the window in awe.

“Is this normal here?” He asked her, “Flying jellyfish?” He specified and she shrugged while holding up her hands cluelessly, for once the two of them were on the same page.

“Nothing in this place is normal,” she defended, “For years scientists have debated if the laws of physics even apply here. Now that we know it’s a hole in the time stream, who knows when these things came from.”

“Hold up,” Sara said, catching the end of the conversation. “What do you mean scientists have debated about this place for years?”

“You guys created a hole in the time stream,” Caitlin began, “When you did history changed, and as far as history is concerned this place has always been…” she trailed off, gesturing around them as if the proper word to describe this insanity would appear out of thin air. “This,” she finally settled on and Sara tilted her head down with a low, frustrated, groan. This revelation wasn’t entirely surprising to her, as they had all figured that there was no possible way LA could’ve changed so much overnight and have nobody notice. The time stream was trying to repair itself when this place was created, so of course it changed history in order to do it.

But, of course, that means they only have so much time to fix this before the change becomes permanent.

That was when the ship was rattled yet again before settling.

“Why is this stupid thing trying to pick us up anyway?” Mick growled in annoyance.

“It probably thinks we’re food, or a rock covering food.” Amaya answered him.

“Can you talk to it?” Ray asked her, “Tell it we aren’t.”

“Maybe,” Amaya replied, rather unsurely. “But fish aren’t exactly easy to hold a conversation with.” She said just before Sara interrupted the two of them.

“Comms are still working,” she informed them, “But Jax thinks it’s gonna be awhile before the rest of the power is back online, and these things shaking us around aren’t helping. So we need to get them away from us.”

“Well, jellyfish hate turtles,” Nate offered, “So if we can maybe make the Waverider look like a giant turtle.” He suggested and Leonard couldn’t help but look at him as if he were completely insane, that had to be the absolutely dumbest idea he had ever heard.

“Let’s call that plan B,” Amaya said gently, looking over at her boyfriend with a sympathetic gaze, to which Len couldn’t help but notice that Mick rolled his eyes.

“How did they knock out the power?” Caitlin wondered aloud, “Jellyfish don’t actually produce electricity, they produce venom.”

“Like you said,” Mick rumbled in reply, “Laws of physics aren’t always in play around here.”

“But if they do create electricity, that means they can short out.” Ray said, an excited grin of realization creeping across his face. “If Jax can get the power running just enough to return a charge we can redirect the jellyfish’s own sting back onto it.”

“You get all that Jax?” Sara asked, tapping her comm and checking to see if the team’s youngest member had been listening.

“Yeah, sounds like a plan, but it’ll take some time. Might be best to get off the ship while I work on it.” He replied and Sara nodded before turning to the others, knowing that they had all heard Jax over the comm.

“Anyone up for exploring?” She asked and the others all glanced around at each other nervously. They had talked about exploring before, as they knew they were probably going to need a better understanding of this place if they wanted to fix it, and even though they now have Caitlin available to offer some insight they still need a little more than her childhood stories. “Alright then,” Sara went on, apparently taking the group silence as a positive answer. “Nate and Amaya, why don’t you two head into the jungle, just try not to go far.” She instructed and Amaya nodded acceptingly, while Nate looked even more nervous than he had before. “Mick and Len,” the Captain went on, biting the corner of her lip in mock thought when she addressed the two former thieves, attempting to disguise the smile threatening to break through her serious face because of how _right_ those names felt together on her lips. “Stick around the city blocks on the north side and be careful, we still don’t know what or who is in half the buildings.”

“There’s a bunch of angry monkeys in one of them, if that’s any help.” Leonard drawled with that sly smirk of his that Sara had missed so much over the past year that she ended up letting her smile show through just a little bit. “I’ll take Ray and head south,” she decided before turning to Stein. “I realize the ship is under attack Martin, but would you and Caitlin mind staying with Jax?” She asked and the professor nodded.

“Of course, if things get out of hand here I think it would be for the best that both halves of Firestorm remain together.” He agreed, understanding Sara’s thoughts, and Caitlin also nodded in acceptance.

 

* * *

 

“So… Snart’s back.” Ray said as he and Sara headed down one of the many city blocks of LA.

“He is,” Sara acknowledged, making sure to keep her eyes focused on the street ahead of them and away from Ray. “And he brought Caitlin with him.”

“Yeah but they’re not… I mean you don’t think that they’re… The two of them aren’t, you know, together.” He awkwardly stuttered and Sara couldn’t help but laugh at the absolute absurdity of that idea.

“Of course I know they’re not a thing.” She assured him.

“Good,” He said, sounding relieved, and for a second Sara thought that the conversation was actually about to end there. But, of course, she was wrong. “So what’s holding you back?” He asked and she bit back a sigh, she had known that this was coming and had been hoping to avoid it.

“Caitlin’s not really my type,” she excused and she didn’t even need to look at Ray to know that he was giving her the most deadpan look possible. But she glanced out of the corner of her eye anyway and yup, definitely the most knowing glare he has in his arsenal. “Snart and I were never anything other than friends,” she insisted, still not ready to give in to where Ray was trying to steer this conversation and admit out loud that she and Snart really might’ve become something more had he not held down that failsafe.

“Come on Sara, you two were practically inseparable.” The ever-well-intentioned man insisted.

“Ray just drop it,” She grumbled, finally getting fed up with him and kicking herself for choosing him as an exploring partner.

Leonard had only been back for a few hours, she hasn’t exactly had a chance yet to try and start something with him even if she wanted to. That isn’t to say that she doesn’t want to, of course, but just that it isn’t that easy. Things have changed. It’s been a year since he “died”, and in that year she’s taken on a lot of responsibility as Captain. Not to mention that they are currently stranded in the mother of all messes, so now isn’t exactly the best time to bring up an old, barely started, conversation about “me and you”.

“Sorry,” Ray’s voice broke through her thoughts, his guilty eyes briefly flickering to the ground before returning to her. “It’s just that, it always looked like you and Snart had something special, and I know what it feels like to lose somebody special. It hurts, and if I were to get a second chance with Anna, I would never let her go.”

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, back on the Waverider, Jax was still down in the engine room trying to get the power going as quickly as possible, while Caitlin and Stein went about the ship tying down anything heavy, fragile, or valuable, while still grabbing on to random items for support whenever the ever-persistent jellyfish decided to take another go at them.

“You know, after seeing Civil War era zombies I had thought I’d seen everything, but a herd of jellyfish who live on land and are the size of two story buildings is making me reconsider.” The Professor said as he and Caitlin worked on securing any loose or heavy equipment in the med bay.

“I knew I would find some weird things when I came to this place, but flying jellyfish definitely weren’t on the list.” Caitlin admitted as she set a lock on a cabinet.

“Why did you come to this place, my dear?” Stein was hesitant with asking, for he could plainly see that a lot had change for Caitlin since he last saw her just a few months ago.

Her hair and Raymond’s story about how she drove off two dinosaurs were evidence enough that her powers have become more active, and he suspected that the alter ego she had dubbed Killer Frost had returned at least once. But it’s more than her powers; it’s her. She seems, well, colder than she used to be. There’s something about her that’s more guarded, more closed off than how she used to be.

She sighed at his question. She couldn’t brush him off the way that she could Snart. Snart was the man who had kidnapped her a few years ago, and in light of recent events he was someone she could trust to watch her back in the jungle. But Stein, he had been Ronnie’s partner. He and Ronnie used to share a body. After an interesting adjustment period, he became like family to Ronnie. She couldn’t lie to him, not even by simply withholding information. It would feel too much like lying to Ronnie.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, “She came back, and she didn’t leave.” She admitted with a crack in her voice, and water brimming in her eyes. “So she… I… worked for Savitar. I helped him and maybe if I hadn’t-” she cut herself off, refusing to finish that sentence.

“Maybe if you hadn’t...?” Stein trailed off, hoping that she would fill in the blank at the end.

She looked at him, the most heartbroken expression that Stein had ever seen on her face.

“Maybe H.R. wouldn’t be dead.” She said sadly and Stein found himself at a loss for words.

But he didn’t have a chance to say anything anyway, because that was when the comms in both their ears cackled to life with sound.

“Alright, we’re all set down here.” Jax’s voice confirmed, “Next time that thing shakes us-” He was cut off by the very shaking to which he was referring, and so as Stein and Caitlin grabbed onto the medical chairs for support they watched the lights flicker back on before going off again as the ship clattered harshly against the ground. “I think it worked,” Jax said carefully, not entirely sure if he was right considering that there are no windows in the engine room of the ship.

“Good,” Nate’s voice suddenly came through the earpieces. “Because Amaya and I could use some help.”


	7. A Lie by Omission

Nate just barely managed to get his finger to his comm to call for help before his arm was yanked back and restricted to his side by another vine, this one just as slimy as the one constricting his torso and other arm, and the two dangling him upside-down by his ankles.

“Ok, so maybe you were right about we shouldn’t have touched anything.” He said and Amaya hummed in agreement from where she dangled just across from him.

He had noticed a small bush blooming with these beautiful pink flowers and insisted that he pick one for her, but as sweet a gesture as it was Amaya hadn’t been able to help feeling uneasy about the bush being all by itself in the middle of what was otherwise a small clearing. Turns out she had been right to worry, as the instant Nate touched one of the flowers the two of them had suddenly found a mess of slippery green vines winding around their bodies before they were launched up into the air and held upside-down, before the ground rose up around them and closed over their ankles. The bush had been bait, and they had been standing on not ground, but the mouth of an enormous Venus-Flytrap plant which was now filling with digestive juices and slowly trying to eat them.

“What are the chances the others will actually get here in time?” Nate went on, his signature grin still on his face and it made Amaya smile.

“I’m sure they’ll make it,” she assured him before she dared to look down at the yellowish acid that was already high enough to touch the tips of her long hair. “In any case,” she went on nervously, “At least we can say we saw some pretty cool things over the course of our short lives.”

“Yeah, and broke all of history possibly beyond repair.” Nate quipped and she laughed, lighting up her face with that smile that never fails to make his knees go weak. If he is going to die in the next few minutes, eaten by a plant of all things, at least he’ll die looking at her.

“What?” She asked when she noticed him staring and smiling to himself.

“Nothing,” he quickly said with a chuckle. “It’s just, you’re right. We’re probably going to make it out of this, and this is definitely not how I wanted to tell you, but I love you.”

At his confession her face nearly went blank with surprise. She was silent for a minute, her mouth gaping and trying to find words that would not come. He found it a little amusing, to be honest, considering she was normally the one leaving him speechless.

“Did you hear that?” She finally asked, suddenly glancing towards the walls of the plant.

“Very funny,” he mocked, “Amaya it’s ok if you’re not-”

“Not that,” she cut him off with what was almost a hiss, “Listen.”

He did as she asked, and she was right. He could hear the sound of people talking coming from outside the walls of the plant, but it didn’t sound like the team. Suddenly the entire plant shook violently, thrown to one side before it landed on the ground with a harsh thud. Nate and Amaya both screamed with surprise as it did before they found themselves lying side by side against one wall, now drenched in acidic liquid and still trapped.

“Great,” Nate groaned before turning his head to Amaya. “Are you ok?”

She nodded in reply. “How long is it going to take for this stuff to kill us?” She asked and Nate shrugged as best he could while still restrained by the vines.

“A few hours?” He guessed, “I’m no scientist, but I’m pretty sure the trap being dead stops it from creating any more to finish us off within minutes, and we’re not dead yet.”

“Vines are still strong,” Amaya confirmed as she struggled in her restraints, “but not as tight.” She amended when she began gaining some leeway. Nate, too, began struggling at her words and made some progress himself. However, the more that they moved the more urgent the voices outside became.

“Definitely not the team,” Amaya mumbled.

“What are they saying?” Nate asked and Amaya looked at him, bewildered.

“You can’t understand them?”

“I never took the ingestible translator,” he admitted, “I already speak six languages, I didn’t exactly think I would wind up in a situation where not a single one of them is useful.”

Amaya rolled her eyes as she listened to the words that apparently only she could understand.

“They’re debating whether or not to open the plant.” She said, and while that message should’ve held hope Nate couldn’t help but notice that his girlfriend’s voice only held fear.

“What happens if they open it?” He dared to ask,

“As of right now, they kill whatever is inside.” She answered and Nate couldn’t help but gulp.

“Great,” he muttered, “So it’s either death by plant acid, or death by unknown weapons. Perfect.”

 

* * *

 

“This is the place,” Sara announced as she and the other Legends all arrived to the spot where the coordinates from Nate’s last transmission had led them. “Now where are they?”

“My guess, that way.” Mick said, pointing to a rather large rut that ran through the dirt and into the trees, surrounded by a multitude of hoof shaped footprints.

“Great,” The Captain muttered with a sigh before she pressed her index finger to her ear. “Nate,” She called into the comm, “Nate or Amaya. Can either of you hear me?” She pleaded but she was met with nothing but static.

“Guess that’s a no,” Snart commented and his voice sent a shiver down Sara’s spine, she still wasn’t used to having him back.

“Wherever they went, I think it’s safe to assume that they didn’t go willingly.” Stein said, stating the obvious. “But the question is, who could’ve taken them?”

Sara turned to Caitlin, as the team’s newest member was also the only one to know this timeline, but the woman shook her head.

“Snart was the only person I ever ran into out here, not that I was here very long before that.” She said, “But considering he was supposed to be dead, and there are dinosaurs running around this place, I think it’s probably safe to say that literally anything or anybody could’ve taken them.”

“Which means we better find them quick,” Jax said, “Because with our luck, it won’t be someone friendly.”

“Can’t your computer track the comms?” Caitlin asked but Sara shook her head.

“If she could we might find ourselves in a lot less trouble half the time.” She said before starting out on the rutted trail through the trees, the others falling into step behind her.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Nate and Amaya had resolved to keep quiet and see if maybe their abductors might just abandon them. Of course they weren’t so lucky and after not too long the jaws of the flytrap were pried open by a sword, which came very narrowly between the two of them.

“Hey, watch it!” Nate shouted while squinting his eyes in response to the sudden flood of sunlight in his face.

The man who had opened the plant said something that Nate couldn’t understand, and he mentally kicked himself yet again for never taking a translator. He just had to be so stubborn when it came to proving to Sara that he belonged on the team. But he didn’t have much time for reprimanding himself, because another man coming to loom over him and Amaya suddenly blocked the offending sunlight. This man had lightly tanned skin and dark, almond shaped eyes. The jet black color of his long mustache and beard made Nate fairly certain that he was of Asian decent and, once the historian took notice of the man’s armor and feathered helmet, he came to a terrifying realization.

“Oh my God,” he whispered while gaping up at the man. “It’s Attila the Hun.”

The man, Attila, may not have been able to understand Nate but he did react to his name, he could understand that his new hostages knew who he was.

“Who?” Amaya asked as her eyes also adjusted to the sudden daylight.

“Attila the Hun.” Nate repeated, “One of the most feared conquers and of the 5th century. Power among the Huns was normally divided up into tribes and usually each tribe had more than one leader, but Attila managed to unite all the tribes and rule as their only king. He also took over a good portion of the Roman Empire, Constantinople being the only significant exception.”

The Hun in question growled and leveled his sword at Nate’s throat; he didn’t like his captives talking so much amongst themselves.

“Nate!” Amaya shouted and as a result found one of Attila’s men putting her in a very similar predicament.

“Tell him we come in peace!” The historian said as he took a deep breath through his nose, trying to keep himself from panicking any more than he already was.

Amaya, frantically, looked up at the man holding the blade to her boyfriend’s throat, just centimeters away from slicing.

“We mean no trouble!” She exclaimed, straining slightly with the lump caught in her own throat, put there by the fear for the sword she herself was facing. Attila looked up in surprise at her declaration, though she knew it was only because he was surprised to hear her speaking his language. “We were trapped by the plant while searching for food, we didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.” She went on, the lead Hun still eyeing both her and Nate suspiciously.

“Spies,” he finally declared, apparently deciding that he didn’t believe Amaya.

“What did he say?” Nate asked and Amaya was about to answer him when a whistle sounded out from behind the Huns and they looked over to see none other than the Legends standing there at the entrance to the small camp that they had been brought to.

“Not spies, just idiots.” Sara declared,

“Hey!” Nate shouted, offended.

“Kill them all!” Attila ordered his men before the entire group of them let out a chorus of battle cries and began charging the Legends.

“Why are these things never easy?” Mick growled, Jax and Stein merging next to him and taking to the sky to start the battle.

“Should’ve grabbed my gun before we left the ship,” Leonard remarked as he took out the knife Sara had planted on him so long ago.

“Um… about that…” Ray trailed off as he joined Firestorm in the sky, sending down photon blast after photon blast for their enemies.

“Haircut blew it up,” Mick ratted out.

“What?” Leonard snarled,

“Dude!” Ray exclaimed at nearly the exact same time. “It was for the greater good! The White House would’ve been destroyed if I hadn’t!” He continued to defend.

“Guys, do you think you can talk about this later?” Sara called while blocking a Hun sword with her Bo. He was clearly one of the higher-ranking officers in the group and a tough match for even her; she didn’t need the boys’ bickering over the comms distracting her.

“This conversation isn’t over Raymond!” Snart said as a final warning before he went about his own battle against a Hun not far from Sara, which turned out to be a very good thing because her opponent managed to lock her arm into a grip at an odd angle and, though Len didn’t see what happened exactly, she gasped out in pain not even a second after he was finished speaking. “Sara!” He shouted in alarm, his knife instinctively going for the man she had been fighting and landing a, non-fatal, stab into the man’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” She assured him, “Look out.”

With that she used her Bo, now held in the hand of her good arm, to fend off the opponent Len had previously been fighting.

Nate and Amaya were also in the fray by now, trying to fight their way closer to their friends so that they could all escape. The battle wasn’t easy, as the Huns are one of histories most ruthless armies and they certainly had the numbers in this fight. But between Firestorm and The A.T.O.M. Suit, The Legends had the advantage of better firepower and soon drove their adversaries into a tactical retreat.

As the Huns fled, one of their horses still dragging the carcass of the flytrap behind it, the Legends all converged into the middle of what had just served as a battlefield.

“Would somebody please explain to me how it is that you two managed to be captured by Huns?” Stein spluttered furiously as he and Jax split and Ray landed beside them.

“Well when I called you we had been captured by the giant Venus-Flytrap.” Nate explained, “Which the Huns then came and chopped down.”

“What do the Huns want with a giant Venus-Flytrap?” Ray asked and Nate shrugged.

“Whatever it is we can figure it out back at the ship, I’ve still got some repairs to make.” Jax said.

“You get rid of the jellyfish, kid?” Mick questioned as the group began to head back for the path from which they had come.

“Yup,” Jax replied and Caitlin, at the back of the group, noticed Snart and Sara lingering behind the rest of them.

“You ok?” Snart asked the blonde, they both seemed perfectly aware that the rest of the team was already gone but didn’t care.

“Fine,” Sara promised through a deep inhale of breath. “He only dislocated my shoulder.” She explained before looking up at the crook, “Mind putting it back?” She asked and with a nod Len walked behind her and ever so gently took ahold of her injured arm. He placed one hand just beyond the tip of her elbow and the other up on her bicep. When he leaned down to whisper something in her ear Caitlin decided she had better catch up with the others, not wanting to intrude on what was obviously a very private moment.

* * *

 

Back on the ship, after they had each had the chance to take separate showers and clean away all of the digestive gunk, Amaya forced herself to go and see Nate. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him, of course, only that she didn’t want to deal with what he had said whilst they were trapped inside of a carnivorous plant. But she knew that it did need to be discussed, and the sooner the better. So she made her way to his room and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” He called from the other side.

“It’s me,” she called back.

“Come in.”

Amaya pressed her hand to the scanner and opened up the door, revealing her boyfriend standing in the center of his room wearing only sweatpants, his shirt crumpled in his hands.

“Hey,” he greeted her with a smile, which she returned.

“Hey,” she said.

“So do you feel as good as I do, not being covered in stomach acid anymore?” He asked while putting on his shirt and Amaya chuckled.

“Yeah, that’s definitely something I don’t want to do again.” She admitted.

“Yeah, who knew me picking you a flower could end in us being captured by Huns?” He joked and Amaya smirked, but didn’t say anything. For a moment the two of them just stood there, smiling at each other, as the tension in the room began to feel like things were about to find the potential to go very, very bad. “Are you ok?” Nate finally asked, unsure of what else to say.

“Yeah,” Amaya answered, nodding nervously and crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s just… what you said earlier…”

“Whoa,” Nate chuckled as he approached her, placing his hands on her arms and gently running them up and down over her long sleeves. “I didn’t tell you that I love you expecting you to say it back.” He admitted, his eyes sparkling with an honesty that had Amaya wrinkling her brows in surprise.

“You didn’t?” She asked and he actually laughed at her confusion.

“No,” he promised before both his face and his voice grew serious. “I told you I love you because that’s how I feel. But we haven’t been together for very long, and I know that you and Hourman were pretty serious, like ready to get married serious. That’s a lot to move on from, so I don’t expect you to feel the same as quickly.”

Amaya huffed a small laugh at his words and smiled, because he should be right. Rex should be the reason that she doesn’t feel like she’s in love with him; the problem should be as simple as her needing time. So she decided to tell herself that was it, and that, in time, her feelings will grow from liking him to loving him. He said it himself, after all, they haven’t been together long.

“Thank you,” she said and he smiled before wrapping his arms around her, bringing her against his chest where she smiled contently against him, almost believing that maybe he is right, and that nagging feeling in the back of her mind simply won’t admit it.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile Caitlin was also wandering the hall of the barracks, after getting directions from Jax about which room to check for the person she was looking for. The directions were good, and when she knocked on the door Jax had described it only took a minute for Mick Rory to answer.

“What do you want?” He huffed at the sight of her, not even giving her the chance to answer before he turned back to his mess of a room and so she, not knowing what else to do, followed him in.

“This place is a pigsty.” She commented without thinking, not that he was offended.

“I asked you a question,” he reminded her, taking a seat on the edge of his worn recliner.

“Right,” she said, “I was just wondering… why did you lie this morning?” She asked and for a second her just stared at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered,

“You weren’t hit with a dinosaur’s tail.” She stated plainly, folding her arms sternly over her chest.

“You were there for five minutes, you don’t know what happened before you showed up.” He argued but she narrowed her eyes on him, she wasn’t about to let him weasel out of this.

But, at the same time, she couldn’t force him to tell her. Yet that very moment was when he grabbed his half drunk bottle of beer from the floor, and an idea popped into her head.

“When’d you open that?” She questioned and he looked at the drink for a second before shrugging.

“Don’t know, maybe five minutes ago?” He replied

“Is it warm?” She asked and he knitted his eyebrows together, obviously confused by her sudden change in the topic.

“What’s your point?” He asked and she held out a hand.

“Give it,” she ordered when he only continued to stare at her, and that didn’t let up at all, but he stood and did as she said.

Once she had the bottle in her grasp Caitlin used just enough of her powers to coat the glass in a thin, but oh so tempting, layer of frost. She couldn’t help the sly grin of pride that escaped her control when Mick’s eyebrows shot up in awe, his eyes dancing with appreciation.

“Now, if you want this, why did you lie to Amaya this morning?” She bargained and though Mick’s expression fell slightly, no doubt due to the fact that she was holding his precious beer as ransom, he still looked pretty impressed with her.

“Alright,” he agreed, yet he still reached down into a cooler on the other side of his chair and retrieved another bottle, this time leaving Caitlin as the confused one. He opened the bottle and took a long sip, smug grin of his face despite the bottle pressed to his lips, before answering. “When Snart and I kidnapped you a couple years back, we grabbed ya in a parking lot. I saw the fear in your eyes that night.” He began and Caitlin tried not to flinch at the memory, hardening her features as she patiently waited for him to somehow connect his kidnapping of her with last night. “I remember tying you up, threatening to burn Allen’s skin off.” He paused for a moment, but Caitlin didn’t break eye contact with him. “You were a lot of bark, but no bite.” He deadpanned before he took a half step closer to her, she didn’t even flinch. “But last night, you flew right up to the face of a dinosaur. Then when I so much as hinted bringing up the subject of Zoom, well you made sure I’ll never make that mistake again.” He backed off her then, but she still hadn’t so much as blinked.

“So what? You’re afraid of me now?” She all but mocked and he scoffed, as if the mere notion of _him_ fearing _her_ were as broken as the time stream.

“I don’t think you’re pathetic anymore.” He mumbled and she rolled her eyes.

“Gee, tanks.” She said sarcastically as he settled himself back in his chair.

“You’re welcome.” He replied and if there was ever an effective weapon against sarcasm, it was earnestness. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I was trying to relax.”

“Of course, I’ll leave you to it.” She said mockingly before turning and leaving his room, cold beer still in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to MissCrazyWriter321 for the idea of Caitlin chilling one of Mick's beers with her powers!


	8. Blast from the Past

As the days went by Caitlin began to settle into life on the Waverider. Most of the days were filled with making repairs to the ship and just trying to keep everybody alive in general. She spends most of her time alone, since most of the Legends have always been either enemies or strangers to her. But she’s starting to grow more comfortable around Ray, Amaya, and Nate. She’s noticed that Snart spends as much time with Sara as he does with Mick, if not more. He’s just left the galley with her now, with Sara being the Captain she spends the majority of her time either helping with repairs or in the library trying to figure out how to fix this mess. So Caitlin assumes that’s where they’re going now, as it’s where they’ve gone nearly every other night since she and Snart came on bored. She’s still sitting at the counter with Jax and Ray, finishing dinner, when the two leave and Jax watches after them until he is sure that they’re gone.

“Ok, are they a thing yet or not?” He suddenly snapped, jolting Caitlin out of her thoughts. She had been wondering the same thing, and by the sound of that question she was starting to figure that she and Jax weren’t the only ones.

“I don’t think so,” Ray said with an almost sad sigh, “I think they’re exactly where they were before the Oculus, dancing around their feelings.”

Caitlin snorted a laugh at that, remembering a certain comment that Snart had made about Barry and Iris while the two of them were camping.

“What’s so funny?” Jax asked her.

“Nothing,” she shrugged, “Just that while we were looking for you guys Snart said something about how annoying it had been waiting for Barry and Iris to stop dancing around each other.”

“He’s one to talk,” Ray scoffed, “You should’ve seen the two of them on the original mission to stop Savage. They were always together. Whenever we had down time they would sit around playing cards for hours, there was one week we stayed in the temporal zone and I think they played cards the whole time.” He went on, Jax nodding in agreement.

“Especially after the thing with Mick,” The young mechanic added, “Even after he came back they were glued to each other more than ever.”

“To be fair, Sara was coming off two years back in The League of Assassins. Snart was pretty much her best friend here before that, so of course she stuck by him while she was readjusting.” Ray said, pointing his fork at Jax as though it emphasized his words.

“True,” Jax agreed.

“Ok, back up.” Caitlin interjected, she had been refraining from asking too many questions ever since she joined the Waverider and opted to simply get to know the others over time, but sometimes when they talked about their past adventures she was left at a loss. “What thing with Mick?”

Ray and Jax exchanged an uneasy glance between themselves; it was as if she had just brought up some taboo subject, even though they were the ones to have first mentioned it.

“Halfway through the mission to kill Savage Mick and Snart got in a fight. One thing led to another and Mick sold us out to a bunch of time pirates in exchange for a ride home.” Jax finally began to explain, albeit uncomfortably.

“But Snart didn’t want to go, and after we took down the pirates and Mick tried to strand us in outer space we realized that if we brought him home he would kill all our families.” Ray interjected,

“So Snart stranded him in the middle of nowhere, problem is he got picked up by the Time Masters.” Jax said and he waited to see if she would ask about them, but she nodded instead.

“Snart told me about the Time Masters,” she confirmed and Jax nodded, making to continue his explanation.

“They brainwashed him and turned him into a bounty hunter named Chronos, then they sent him after us.”

“Obviously he came back to our side eventually,” Ray said, “But still, things weren’t really the same after that. Not to mention that while he was Chronos, Mick stranded Sara, Kendra, and I in 1958 and Rip wasn’t able to find us until 1960. Sara spent those two years in the only place she felt she could belong in the 1950’s; Nanda Parbat.” He explained and Caitlin nodded, though she was still focused on Mick’s side of that story.

Snart had said that he was willing to die at The Oculus because he owed Mick; this had to be what it was for. He abandoned Mick, and as a result the arsonist became a pawn doing dirty work for the Time Masters. It also explains why he’s… different. She can’t put her finger on it, but there’s something about Mick Rory that isn’t quite the same as it was three years ago when he kidnapped her, aside from the whole hero thing.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Gideon’s voice suddenly rang out from overhead, making Caitlin jump, still unused to the AI’s chipper voice ringing in from everywhere and nowhere without warning. “But Captain Lance is asking that everyone report to the bridge, we are going to make a time jump in order to return an anachronism to it’s proper place in history.”

The three exchanged glances once Gideon was finished speaking, before Jax became the first to vacate his seat with a sigh.

“So much for not bringing everything back one by one.”

Ray nodded as he stood and Caitlin followed their example, walking between the two of them as they made their way to the bridge. By the time they got there most of the team was already settling into their flight chairs. Caitlin waited until everyone else was at least near a chair, not wanting to steal someone’s seat on accident. She found herself strapping in on the left side of Amaya, Nate, of course, on her right.

“If nobody minds my asking, where exactly are we going?” Professor Stein asked as he took his seat and pulled down his restraints, Sara entering their destination into the control panel.

“Since this is basically a test run, we’re starting small.” She announced, “Mick found a vase while collecting parts, it belongs in a tomb ancient Egypt, we’re going to put it back and hopefully that’ll help stabilize the timeline. At least a little bit.”

She didn’t sound entirely confident, but she didn’t sound completely doubtful either. Anyway, it was right as she finished speaking at the ship began jolting with movement, and Caitlin suddenly remembered the day of the Dominator’s Invasion when Cisco was telling her about his trip to the 60’s, and how he hadn’t expected the physical side effects of time travel. Her eyes screwed shut as her stomach lurched, her teeth gritting and hands squeezing at the thick medal of her restraints. She had never been much of a fan of roller coasters; they were too high and too fast. Any amusement park ride, actually, had always been a bit much for her. Once she out-grew the kiddie rides she had been content to just stay at home, not wanting re-taste her lunch. But this was a far bigger extreme than anything Ronnie had ever dragged her on at the State fair. Her head was pounding and she felt as though every molecule in her body were vibrating. Flashes of light, both bright and dark, flew through her closed eyelids, which she didn’t dare open, not until it was over.

Then it was.

The lights around her suddenly came to a calm and the ship felt more like it was gliding through the air as opposed to barreling through all of time. Still, she didn’t dare open her eyes until she was sure the ship was safely on the ground, and even once that happened her entire world was still spinning.

“We have arrived in Egypt 1700 B.C.” Gideon announced, although Caitlin was still too busy fighting down nausea to notice.

“1700?” Ray questioned, “Isn’t this the year Kendra and Carter die for the first time?”

“Whose funeral do you think we’re crashing?” Sara asked plainly and at the serious look on her face the others looked over in surprise. “In their first life, Kendra was a high priestess and Carter was a prince, and that meteor shower left almost everyone in the palace dead. Fortunately the tombs were built outside of the city and so every high ranking body they found, including the king’s, is going to be buried today.” She explained, “It’s simple; sneak in, leave the vase in the king’s tomb, sneak out.”

“Oh yeah, simple.” Nate said, sarcasm far beyond evident in his voice. “Just waltz right into a tomb in the middle of a massive royal funeral, avoid getting lost in the maze of empty rooms the Egyptians built to confuse grave robbers, and get back out before the door is sealed shut trapping us in there forever. Easy.”

“Not to mention that there’s one more problem.” Ray said, fear written all over his face. “With most of the clergy dead the highest ranking surviving member will be heading the funeral, and I can only think of one high ranking member who we know for certain survived.”

“Savage.” Jax said what didn’t need saying and the gravity on the ship seemed into increase ten fold.

“So what?” Mick finally broke the silence, “We killed that bastard.”

“The ‘so what’, Mr. Rory, is that the reason we continued to travel backwards in time while fighting Savage was so that we would be able to maintain the element of surprise.” Stein began explaining, frustrated as usual.

“But if Savage sees us here in ancient Egypt he’ll recognize our past selves even the first time we encounter him, meaning the element of surprise is gone.” Ray finished and now Caitlin could see why the tension in the room had grown so heavy.

They needed to put this vase back, and this would be the only time the tomb would be open so that they could do it, but it was going to be a big risk not only to the already broken timeline, but possibly to the team themselves.

“I thought you said we were starting easy?” Jax huffed with a shake of his head.

“I said small,” Sara corrected, “Nothing with us is ever easy.”

“Hm, how very true.” Stein murmured though it mostly went ignored.

“Now,” Sara went on, deciding that it was finally time to get down to business. “With most of the servants dead what’s left of the clergy is enlisting help of the normal citizens for the funeral. So the plan is for Nate, Amaya, and Caitlin to sneak in as volunteers and put back the vase. Everyone else needs to standby as backup in case something goes wrong.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Nate ranted, his hands up as if to calm an argument that hadn’t yet started. “Nate, Amaya, and Caitlin sneak into a royal funeral headed by an immortal warlord?”

“You’re the only ones who weren’t part of the original mission to stop Savage, so if he sees you it doesn’t matter.” Sara explained.

“Besides, it’s only been a few days since the meteor shower. Savage doesn’t know he’s immortal yet, and hopefully he’s still mourning Kendra. So he should be sufficiently distracted from creating new enemies.” Snart added but Nate didn’t seemed reassured by his words in the least, if anything he appeared to squirm where he was standing even more.

 

* * *

 

An hour later and the mission was underway.

It was looking like it just might be a simple mission. The city was in ruins, servants and volunteers were marching in and out of the desert in groups in order to bring royal treasures into the tomb, and so far there was no sight of Savage.

“If we weren’t so worried about screwing over our past selves, I’d go down there and procure a few souvenirs.” Snart commented as he paced around the bridge, Sara and Jax on either side of the hollow table in order to keep an eye on things.

“We’re trying to fix the timeline Snart, not break it even more.” Nate grumbled over the comm and so Leonard reached up to his ear in order to mute his end.

“I don’t think Heywood likes me very much,” he drawled, meanwhile the others could all hear Nate demanding to know why Snart had muted him.

“Nah, Pretty just has a stick permanently lodged up his ass.” Mick said as he strolled into the room and joined Jax in leaning over one of the screens on the main consol.

“He just needs to get used to you.” Jax assured his recently returned friend.

“Agreed, now unmute your comm so he’ll shut up.” Sara requested and so with a snicker Leonard did as she asked and unmuted his comm.

“I can’t be the only one-”

“Back online,” Len called into his comm, effectively cutting off Nate’s protests.

“Good, because we’re about to go in.” Amaya’s voice was stern, not leaving room for any arguments.

“Once you’re in the tomb your comms aren’t going to work, we’re giving you guys an hour before we assume something’s wrong and come looking for you. Do not make us do that.” Sara warned over the link, it couldn’t be denied that everyone had the same bad feeling that something was going to go very wrong here and the warning was futile, but it couldn’t hurt.

“Don’t worry,” Amaya assured, even though she knew very well that they all had very good reason to be worried.

She, Caitlin, and Nate were nearing the tomb’s entrance, she and Caitlin each holding some random jars of spices they had been given by the palace guards handling the volunteers, and Nate had the vase they were here to return. They were among a group of other civilians and were being herded by two guards, probably as so to prevent any would-be thieves. Unfortunately it wasn’t the guards who had Amaya worried, it was the other people. When the three of them first joined the group everyone had stared at them, and now only half were staring while the other half went to great measures to avoid eye contact. At first the three of them had wondered what everyone was looking at, as the city is large enough that nobody should notice three strangers. But then they realized that it wasn’t the group of them earning the looks; it was Caitlin. Her white hair was an abnormality in this era, and with head dressings reserved only for royalty here, it was on full display. They marched on without a word about it, of course, hoping that they could get through this mission without incident.

They almost did too.

They made it up to the tombs entrance, purposely keeping themselves in the center of the horde of people, and just as Nate was passing through the doorway Caitlin was abruptly yanked from his side with a shout.

“YOU!” A furious voice snarled; a tight grip encasing her wrist and Caitlin paled in horror, not that her complexion weren’t already pale beyond measure, as she found herself looking into the burning eyes of a man whom she had so far only seen in pictures.

Vandal Savage.

“Are you the witch responsible for this?” He demanded angrily, shaking her arm and jerking her around as she stared up at him in terror. “Well?!”

“N, no.” She stuttered fearfully but he snarled in response, clearly having made up his own mind about her already.

“Excuse me, is there a problem?” Nate asked, himself and Amaya still standing there along with the rest of the halted volunteers.

“Do you know this woman?” Savage demanded of him.

“Uh yeah,” Nate was trying to sound confident, but he was practically wilting where he stood. “She’s my uh, she’s my sister, and she’s not a witch.” He claimed in defense but Savage was still glaring hatefully at Caitlin, his hand still tightly encasing her wrist.

“What happened to her hair?” He demanded and Caitlin opened her mouth to answer, but then abruptly closed it, as she didn’t have a close to suitable answer.

“Born like that,” Nate supplied with a nervous shrug and Savage snorted through his nose like an angry bull.

“She should’ve been dealt with at birth then,” he snarled, “She is clearly an agent of Apep.” He decided before he yanked at Caitlin to drag her along and, when Nate tried to intervene, the two guards who had escorted the group of volunteers into the desert seized him and began following Savage.

As the men dragged the two away, the sounds of their protests echoing all around them, Amaya stood silently among the citizens of the volunteer group. She wanted to help, every fiber of her being was practically screaming at her to run after Nate and Caitlin. But she had been warned about Vandal Savage, and even in this early age she knew that she couldn’t handle him plus two other palace guards by herself. So she remained quiet, allowed the three men to ignore her, assume that she wasn’t a part of the “siblings” they had just apprehended, and once they were out of hearing distance she picked up the vase Nate had dropped and then raised the finger of her free hand to her ear.

“Sara,” she gulped, “We have a problem.”


	9. Frozen Hearts

Ok, so the actual mission of getting the vase returned to it’s rightful place in history and thus stabilizing the timeline by just a _tiny_ amount? Piece of cake. Amaya was able to walk right in, put it where it belonged, and walk right out. Now they had a new mission; rescue Nate and Caitlin from Vandal Savage without being seen.

“Assuming this team’s record for screwing up hasn’t improved in the year I was gone, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that getting them back without being seen is going to be next to impossible.” Snart rightly guessed.

“Savage isn’t going to see you,” Amaya assured him, all of them. They were all standing around the bridge trying to come up with an at least halfway decent plan to rescue their captured teammates.

So far it wasn’t working.

“Well we’re not sending you alone,” Sara flatly stated, stopping any crazy ideas of Amaya’s before they could make it past her lips.

“What are the chances they’ll just let ‘em off with banishment?” Mick asked and while it was a hopeful thought, it was also highly unlikely with their luck.

“Not good,” Amaya confirmed, “When Nate said that Caitlin had been born with her hair white, Savage said that she should’ve been dealt with at birth. I don’t think he’s going to settle for banishing her.”

“So the question is, when is he going to, you know…” Ray trailed off, making a slicing motion with his finger across his throat. “Her?”

“No idea,” Sara huffed, “Best guess? Probably at the end of the funeral, turn her into an example when everybody’s watching. The sooner we get them out of there, the better.”

“Meaning we gotta figure a way to not be seen fast.” Jax reminded them all.

“We could always dress up like ninjas.” Mick said and maybe he wasn’t actually serious, or maybe it was just the fact that no one ever takes him seriously, but either way when they others all looked at him with thoughtful expressions he was very confused. “What?”

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Nate and Caitlin had been locked in the palace dungeon, which was mostly intact because it was built underground. The guards explained that they would both be executed at sundown before leaving them.

“Well, time to get out of here.” Nate said chipperly once the guards were gone.

“What do you mean?” Caitlin asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“Come on,” Nate practically laughed. “I can turn to steal and you fire shards of ice from your hands, this little cell is nothing.”

“We don’t know how many guards are out there.” Caitlin reminded him but he shrugged, undaunted by the threat.

“Can’t be too many,” he said, “Most of them are either dead or helping with the funeral. It’s probably just the two that threw us in here.”

Caitlin bit her lip nervously, she didn’t like the idea of busting out without a plan but she also couldn’t deny that Nate was probably right and they could handle the guards.

“Come on, the team can’t risk being seen by Savage, so they can’t come for us.” Nate added and so Caitlin slowly nodded, if they weren’t going to be rescued than they really didn’t have much of a choice but to rescue themselves.

“Ok,” she agreed and with an almost mischievous grin Nate turned his attention to the bars of their cage and activated his powers.

Caitlin would be lying if she said that she wasn’t at least slightly impressed by the sight before her. Nate obviously has a lot of control over his powers, and she couldn’t help but envy how easy it appeared for him to turn them off and on at will. He pried apart the bars on their cage and stepped through, her following behind him and keeping an eye out for any guards. So far he appeared to have been right, there was nobody to be seen. They were still quiet as possible walking down the long corridor of the dungeon, ready to fight off anyone at a moments notice. The only sound was coming from Nate’s heavy footfalls, as he still had his powers activated. They were halfway through when something in the shadows caught Caitlin’s attention and she stopped, her eyes scanning all around her.

“What is it?” Nate whispered, noticing that she had stopped.

“I’m not-” Caitlin was cut off by a soft thud, it sounded like someone landing on the ground behind her. She whirled around in less than a second and fired an icy blast at the intruder.

“Gah!” A voice shouted in surprise, coming from the mouth of the person she had just hit.

“HEY!” Another voice barked, almost protectively, and another figured jumped down from a ledge at the top of the hall.

This figure was clad head to toe in black, including a ski mask that left nothing but his eyes visible. Caitlin didn’t attack, though. She knew that voice. Instead she simply watched in horror as Leonard Snart tore off his mask and rushed over to his accomplice lying on the ground, very likely frozen.

 

* * *

 

_One Hour Earlier_

“Good to know that in the year I’ve been gone, you guys are still having problems with getting captured. Not much has changed.” Len remarked as he entered the armory.

Sara was wearing the same outfit she had worn when the two of them went to rescue Mick and Raymond. He was dressed similarly, and she was just closing her weapons kit.

“No, it hasn’t.” She said, turning and leaning against the table behind her, looking at him in a way that made his eye flick away from her ever so briefly.

“There’s never going to be a good time to have this conversation, is there?” He asked even though he knew the answer.

“Probably not,” Sara agreed, “But I think we both needed some time to adjust to you being back.” She said and he nodded. She was far beyond right. He may not have died but it sure felt like he did. So much has changed for the Waverider and her crew since the Oculus, and as much as he wanted to talk to Sara about the possibility of their future he did need some time to accept those changes.

“And now?” He asked and she huffed with a smile, pushing herself away from the table.

“Now we have to go rescue Nate and Caitlin from a man we’ve already killed. But, once that’s over, what do you say to a game of cards tonight?” She offered and he smiled coyly at her.

“I’ll bring the booze.”

 

* * *

 

They moved the Waverider as close to the city as they could get, which to say was not very close.

“Now remember, the two of you must be very careful not to be seen, especially by Savage.” Stein warned for probably the billionth time as Sara and Leonard were securing their masks into place and preparing to disembark, Sara making sure that her blonde hair was hidden well under the mask because she didn’t want to end up in the same predicament as Caitlin.

“Relax Professor,” Leonard said, his words only slightly muffled by the fabric over his mouth. “We’ll be fine.”

Stein nodded and moved away from the two, only to be replaced by Amaya.

“I still think I should be going with you.” She protested one final time,

“And while we appreciate that Savage saw you this morning in the volunteer group, and so did the guards. If you get caught they’ll kill you, maybe even right there. I’m not taking that chance.” Sara explained firmly.

“Besides,” Len added, “The less of us who go, the better. We’ll get your boyfriend back.” He promised and when he did he couldn’t help but notice the slight roll of the brown haired woman’s eyes, but he wrote it off as her boyfriend not being the one she was worried about.

Anyway, he and Sara left the ship and snuck through the city with little difficulty. Most of the town’s residents and guards were preoccupied in the desert and for those who weren’t, well they are a former thief and assassin, remaining hidden was not that hard even in the broad daylight. So sneaking into the palace was easy enough for them, as was getting down into the dungeon. Once there, however, they could hear at least one guard coming there way and so with little more than a glance to the ledge high above them, and then back to each other, Leonard cupped his hands to give Sara a boost. She placed her foot in his hands and climbed up his shoulders to the ledge, and once there she reached down to pull him up. The guards passed by below them never the wiser.

They moved long the ledge in silence, until they heard what sounded like footfalls, very loud footfalls. They looked to each other with questioning eyes but decided to keep moving and soon they cam across two people walking though the hall below; one made of metal and the other with distinctly white hair.

“Impressive,” Leonard admitted, despite what he’s seen with Caitlin so far he still wouldn’t have pegged her as most likely to break herself out of prison, no matter how poorly guarded.

“Nate,” Sara whisper called down to their two teammates and Caitlin stopped, so the two of them assumed that she at least had heard her.

That was a mistake.

Assuming that Caitlin knew who was there, Sara jumped down from the ledge but the second her feet touched the ground Caitlin rounded on her with a blast of power that sent her flying back.

Leonard’s vision went red.

“HEY!” He screamed out, throwing himself off the ledge and all he let himself take in about Caitlin was her guilt stricken face. She hadn’t meant to hurt Sara and that was all he needed to know. She wasn’t a threat to him, so he tore off his mask and booked it over to where Sara had landed.

“Sara!” He exclaimed as he fell to his knees beside her, she was trying and failing to sit up by the time he got there. He put his arms around her to help with her efforts, ripping of her mask to find that her lips were turning blue and her skin was growing paler by the second, not to mention that brushing his hand against her cheek revealed that it was cold as ice.

“Oh my god,” He heard Nate breathe behind him and suddenly all of Leonard’s anger came washing back over him in a tidal wave and with Sara still tucked tightly against his chest he whirled around and rammed his fist into the other man’s jaw.

With Nate staggering back and Caitlin busy attending to him she might have shouted at him but Leonard wasn’t entirely sure; he was too preoccupied with Sara. He gathered her up into his arms and took off down the hall in the direction they had come from, praying they wouldn’t run into many guards.

 

* * *

 

Amaya was in her flight chair on the bridge, staring off at nothing.

“They’ll get him.” It was Mick’s rumbling voice that pulled her from her thoughts, prompting her to look up at him where he stood over her, two beers in hand.

“I know,” she assured him, accepting the beer he held out to her and uncapping it while he settled into the seat beside her.

“There wasn’t anything you could’ve done,” he says as if it’s a promise.

“I know,” this time her words held a little more irritability, which he was quick to detect.

“What’s eating ya, then?” He asked with a sip of his beer and she huffed before taking a rather long swig of her own, before collapsing back even further into he chair.

“Nathaniel told me he loves me.” She admitted, eyes flicking up to watch Mick’s reaction. He didn’t give much of one, of course. He looked down at her with surprise in his brown eyes, but she’s pretty sure that’s only because he can’t see why this would be an issue.

Honestly, he isn’t the only one.

“That a bad thing?” He finally asked and she shrugged.

“It shouldn’t be,” she said in an almost miserable voice. “I just don’t think I’m… there.” She continued and Mick hummed in thought, half wanting to tell her that she should just dump Pretty’s over confident ass, she’s too good for him anyway, and the other half knew that wasn’t something a friend would say, and he really has no interest in losing her as a friend.

He was still thinking it over, weighing out the pros and cons in his mind, when the sound loud footsteps running through the metal hall behind them grabbed his attention and he and Amaya both sprung to their feet and raced to the door.

Just in time to see Snart run by with Sara in his arms.

“What happened?” Mick demanded of Caitlin, who stopped with Nate at the doorway, the historian holding his jaw.

Caitlin didn’t answer. Instead she was crying and she tried to get out a coherent word but it wasn’t working.

“We thought they were guards,” Pretty finally explained, “We didn’t think anyone was coming for us, considering all those warnings about what might happen if Savage saw any of you. So we broke ourselves out and then Sara dropped down behind us out of nowhere and Caitlin acted on instinct and…” He kept going but Mick was no longer listening, he’d heard all he needed to.

He pushed his way through the group and marched quickly down to the med bay where he found Sara lying in one of the reclined chairs, Leonard laying a blanket out over her.

“Is she?”

“She’s fine.” Len all but snapped, “Now,” he added, a tad more calmly. “Gideon’s healing her and the blanket should help warm her up.” He finished before setting his fiery eyes on the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go have a chat with Nathan.”

With that Leonard stormed out of the room, leaving Mick to look at Sara’s still form with a good amount of fear in his eyes.

“Just a warning Blondie,” he said, “Someone might be dead when you wake up.”

 

* * *

 

Back on the bridge Caitlin was sitting down in a flight chair, her tears beginning to stop as Amaya knelt before her trying to get the story of what happened, whilst Nate was pacing around and had already said what happened three times over but Amaya was simply set on hearing it from Caitlin. That was when Snart marched back in, furious eyes locked onto Nate.

“Whoa, hey!” Nate just barely managed to splutter out before the ex-crook had his fists curled into the collar of his shirt, pinning him against the nearest wall.

“Snart!” Amaya shouted, walking over to the two men even though neither of them looked at her. “Snart let him go!”

“Not a chance,” he snarled, Nate gulped in fear.

“Snart!” Caitlin yelled, getting up from her seat and joining Amaya. “Listen to her. I’m the one who hurt Sara, Nate had nothing to do with it.” She tried to reason but Leonard only kept his hateful gaze even with Nate’s terrified one. Yet something in his eyes softened, and after a solid ten seconds he released his grip on the historian with a huff.

“Are you ok?” He heard Amaya ask a gasping Nate as he turned to leave the room, fully intending on returning to the med bay to wait for Sara to wake up.

“Yeah,” Nate coughed, “The former member of the Legion of Doom just tried to kill me, but I’m fine.”

That was it.

Leonard spun back around on his heel and marched back over to Nate, not laying a hand on him this time but most certainly getting in his face.

“Alright, let’s get one thing clear.” He started in a maliciously serious voice, “You don’t like me, I don’t like you, but neither of us is walking away so we need to learn to get along. I could go on all day about all the reasons I don’t trust you and I am more than confident that you could do the same for me, but I need to get back to the med bay so I’m just going to cut to today.” He sneered, “You’re a showboat. Caitlin got into a _hint_ of trouble with Savage and you didn’t think about, not for even a second, if you were what was best in the situation. You just opened your mouth and got yourself, and her, captured. Now no offence to Caitlin, but I KNOW she wasn’t the one to break out of that cell, meaning you made a call. When you make a call you accept responsibility for whatever happens because of it, and you do NOT walk around in the form of a hulking metal monster if you don’t have to! Sara called down to you, but you couldn’t hear her because you were too busy showing off your powers!” He was shouting now, screaming in fact, but he didn’t care. He was done, and so he turned himself back towards the door and left the bridge with it’s three occupants in a stunned silence.

 

* * *

 

When Sara woke up she felt one thing: cold. Opening her eyes she discovered that she was in the med bay and just around the time she registered the blanket over her the memories of what happened came flooding back. She closed her eyes tight in frustration, and quite frankly disorientation, before opening them again and looking to the side of her where she found Leonard sitting in a chair, watching her.

She smiled at the sight of him, “How long have I been out?” She asked and he shrugged.

“Not long, less than an hour.” She nodded at the answer. “Are you still cold?” She nodded again.

“A little,” she replied, pushing herself into a sitting position and making sure to pull her blanket with her. “I’ll warm up.” The two of them were quiet for a minute, before she broke that quiet with a laugh. “Why is it that every time we table a conversation for after a mission, one of us nearly dies?”

Len smirked and leaned closer to her, his elbows resting on his knees. “It’s an interesting track record.” He admitted, “You still want to talk about it?” He asked her the question and she responded with what may have been one of the most deadpan looks he has ever seen from her. “Is that a yes?” He asked with a chuckle.

Sara sighed before her gaze softened, “That’s an I-did-not-not-die-just-to-put-this-conversation-off-again.” She replied and he laughed again at her words.

“Ok,” he drawled, “So I asked you about a future, one that includes us both, so aside from the verge of total humiliation, where do we stand?” He asked simply and she thought for a moment before, finally, looking him in the eye.

“I don’t want to leave the Waverider just yet,” she said bluntly.

“Neither do I,” he agreed.

“So none of this is ever going to be normal,” she warned,

“I never expected it to be.” He promised,

“So, for now, can we just kiss a little more than we used to and see where that leads us?” She asked and with a smirk Leonard reached over for her icy hand and raised her knuckles to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to them.

“Sounds like a plan.”


	10. Not Ready To Make Nice

Dinner was a very awkward affair that night.

They had time jumped back to present LA and even that brief gathering on the bridge was tense, but it was nothing compared to the heavy silence that came with all the Legends filing around the galley making their separate dinners. They don’t usually sit down and eat together, unless it’s a special occasion, but they do all tend to eat around the same time. As usual it started with Mick, who is almost always in the galley anyway, and then Stein came and put his order into the replicator. Mick was sitting at the counter, and so Stein went and took his usual seat at one of the tables.

Everything was normal… until the voices sounded from the hallways.

Both of the men in the galley looked up at the sound of bickering coming towards them, only for Nate to appear in the doorway first with Amaya trailing on his heels. They were both talking over each other until Nate held up a hand and waved it over his shoulder, mumbling repeating “alright’s” and “whatever’s” until Amaya finally huffed and moved past him to make herself dinner.

Stein and Mick glanced at each other, both wondering about the couple’s odd behavior. They were both fairly certain that the only reason Amaya even allowed her boyfriend to “shush” her was in the sole interest of not causing a scene in a common area. Then again, it wasn’t really working. Nate had taken a seat with his replicated sandwich at the only vacant table while Amaya slid herself onto the stool next to Mick, bowl of left over pasta salad from the last time somebody actually cooked in hand. Mick looked down at her curiously, and she scowled up at him with a roll of her eyes that he nodded to, she would be telling him about what was going on with her and Pretty later.

Next came Ray, who replicated his own dinner just about the time that Stein was leaving the galley and sat down with Nate.

“Hey Nate, what’s up?” He asked in his always-cheery voice, meanwhile Nate barely glanced up from his plate as he angrily chewed. “What’s wrong?” Ray asked, the peppy smile suddenly gone from his face and Nate swallowed, looked as though he were about to answer, and then Sara and Snart walked in.

Suddenly Nate lost his appetite and pushed himself away from the table, his medal chair loud as it scraped harshly against the floor, and stomped out of the room. Ray watched him go, completely bewildered, while Amaya and Leonard rolled their eyes in annoyance. Sara and Mick also found the historian’s behavior to be odd, but they each decided that it wasn’t worth potentially setting off anyone else with asking.

“Has anyone seen Caitlin?” Sara asked instead, Caitlin’s blast of power back in the dungeon hadn’t sent her flying hard enough to forget what happened and still she hadn’t had a chance to talk with the newest recruit. She had barely come out of her room for the time jump.

“Haven’t seen her,” Ray supplied, “Are you ok?”

“Fine,” Sara assured, “I just want to make sure she is.”

“I’m sure Elsa’s fine,” Mick said around a mouthful of his dinner, “Savage didn’t touch her.”

Well, he was right about that, but Caitlin’s physical wellbeing wasn’t exactly what Sara was worried about.

“I’m gonna go look for her,” the blonde announced, turning and leaving the galley.

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long to find Caitlin, considering her bedroom was the first place that Sara looked and she arrived to find the door was closed.

“Caitlin?” She called, knocking on the metal door. “Caitlin open up.”

To Sara’s surprise, Caitlin did actually open the door. “It wasn’t locked,” she said, folding her arms awkwardly over her chest.

Sara nodded, “Are you ok?” She asked and Caitlin shrugged.

“I should be asking you that,” she said, “I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know it was you.”

“I know,” Sara assured her, “It’s ok, I’m fine and you’ve got a pretty good shot there.” She went on, making Caitlin smile just a little.

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you,” She began, her voice concerned. “But Snart really went off on Nate about it.”

Sara furrowed her brow in confusion at Caitlin’s words, because no, nobody had told her. But that certainly did explain why Nate left the galley in a huff as soon as she and Leonard walked in.

“It’s just,” Caitlin went on, “I know that I’m new, but I thought Nate, Amaya, and I went out on that mission as partners. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Nate and Amaya were not your babysitters,” Sara assured her, “You’re an equal member of this team-”

“Then Nate is not responsible for my messing up-”

“No, he’s not.” Sara agreed, “I’ll talk to him and Leonard, see what happened.”

“It wasn’t pretty,” Caitlin warned, “Amaya and I thought he was going to punch him again-”

“He punched Nate?” Sara demanded and Caitlin’s face flushed red at the realization that Sara hadn’t been awake to witness that.

“Yeah,” she stuttered, “Right after I struck you. Snart ran to get you and Nate turned off his powers and followed, then Snart turned around and punched him in the face.”

Sara stood there for a solid thirty seconds, gaping at her. Apparently she really didn’t know anything about what went down between Nate and Snart, although based on what the latter had said when he was screaming it might be safe to say that none of them really know what’s happened between the two, or rather what hasn’t.

 

* * *

 

“You punched Nate?!” Sara demanded as she let herself into Leonard’s room. He was currently sitting on his bed reading a book, which he put down with a sigh when he realized he was in trouble.

“If it weren’t for him, Caitlin wouldn’t have frozen you.” He defended,

“I don’t care,” Sara argued, “The guy doesn’t trust you as it is, you’re going to make it worse by punching him? Are you trying to stay on his bad side?”

“Probably less annoying than being on his good side,” He mumbled, scratching at the edge of the cards, but Sara’s face remained unamused.

“Time is broken, Leonard.” She reminded him, “Every time that any of us sets foot off this ship, we’re taking our lives into our hands. We can’t afford to not trust each other.”

Leonard sighed; he knew that she was right about that. He also knew that while Nate certainly did need to hear what it was that he said earlier, shouting it in his face may not have been the best way of going about it.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” He finally offered, “Right now it’s late, and frankly I’m still a little pissed at him. We’ll both sleep on what happened, and deal with it in the morning.” He bargained but Sara raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him, to which he rolled his eyes. “Or the next time something comes up, which with our luck _will_ be in the morning.”

“You better,” she said before walking over to him and taking the deck of cards from his hand. “Now,” she drawled, studying the cards before flicking her eyes back up to him. “I believe you said you were going to bring the booze tonight.”

* * *

 

“So Pretty’s being an ass,” Mick stated, taking a sip of his beer as he sat on his bench-press/bed while Amaya paced her way in circles around his room, having just told him the reason she and Nate had walked into dinner fighting.

“I think stubborn ass was the term I used, but yes.” She agreed and Mick held up a finger as a “good point” type of gesture.

Her fight with Nate had been about, ironically, his fight with Snart. After Leonard had left the bridge and Nate had taken some time to cool down, Amaya made the mistake of going to him and suggesting that he talk to Leonard. An argument ensued over Leonard’s credibility as somebody to be taking advice from, and Nate couldn’t believe that his girlfriend was on the former criminal’s side in that.

She left out that Mick’s credibility, and sanity, were also brought into question by Nate, for which she had to restrain herself from slapping him across the face.

“Well, if you want my advice,” He stopped, giving her a chance to tell him that she doesn’t want his advice, but then he remembered that it’s Amaya he’s talking to, the one person on this team who actually holds his opinions to some value. “Give him the night to sleep on it, at the very least he’ll tell you he’s sorry in the morning.”

Amaya nodded at the plan, “You’re right.”

“And don’t sleep with him.” He quickly added, pulling his beer away from his lips as the thought came to mind. “Can’t let him think that everything’s all hunky-dory.”

Amaya laughed at her friend’s idea of punishment, “Don’t worry, I won’t.” She promised.

“Good,” He hummed in approval, bringing his beer back to his lips.

“Thanks Mick,” Amaya said with a smile and with that she left him to his drinking.

“Anytime honey,” he said as she left, not that she could hear him. “Anytime.”

 

* * *

 

Ray awoke to a jolt of the ship, nearly toppling out of bed with the force of it.

“Gideon?” He asked, “What was that?”

“It appears, Dr. Palmer, that the ship is being attacked.” The AI replied.

“Under attack? By who?” Ray asked before his eyes went wide with terror, “Is it the jellyfish again?”

“I am not sure, however I don’t believe that the jellyfish are the ones who are attacking, as the ship as not yet experienced any power surges.”

Ray nodded, that was good news at least.

Just then the ship jolted again, and so Ray decided to go out and investigate. Out in the hallway he found Stein, Jax, and Caitlin all emerging from their rooms and making their way slowly down the hall, much like himself. The ship shook again and this time the shaking was accompanied by a loud banging sound, almost like something was trying to break through the closed ramp of the ship. Sharing a glance with Caitlin, Ray saw that she was nervous about whatever was happening as well, but he could see in her eyes that she was ready to fight if need be.

The four of them made their way to the bridge where the others were all crowded around the front windows.

“Please don’t tell me those stupid jellyfish are back?” Jax asked, clearly having the same fears as Ray initially had.

“No,” Sara confirmed with a brief glance over her shoulder at the new arrivals, though the tone of her voice was confused. “It’s the Huns.”


	11. Three's a Crowd

There was another loud crash of metal as the Hun’s smashed their battering ram against the ship’s hull, resulting in another jolt of the ship.

“Why are they attacking us?” Nate demanded as he braced his weight against the windowsill.

“Maybe they decided they want to eat you after all.” Mick grumbled, a taunting and yet almost serious gleam in his eyes.

“Gross,” Caitlin said with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m just saying, if that’s what they’re after, why shouldn’t we hand you over?” The arsonist went on and while he was probably joking the others weren’t entirely sure if he was or not.

“Nobody’s eating anybody,” Sara decided, “We drove them off once we can drive them off again.” Another shake of the ship interrupted her, “and if not, maybe they can be reasoned with.” She added as a growled afterthought, though it was clear she didn’t believe it.

With that said the Captain began walking down the tremoring halls of the Waverider, the rest of the crew following behind her, all the way down to the ship’s entrance.

“We really should have some sort of external speaker system or something,” Ray commented as they reached the door.

“I’ll put that on my list,” Jax sarcastically commented.

“So what are we going to do?” Nate questioned, “Just open the door and let them in?”

“Not exactly,” Sara said before turning to Ray. “Do you have your suit?”

“By now, I never leave my room without it.” The inventor confirmed, pulling his miniature case from his pocket.

Five minutes later had the Waverider’s entrance ramp cracked open and Ray flying out to go try and reason with one of history’s most gruesome army’s.

“Good to know Raymond’s still the same optimistic moron he was when I left,” Snart commented as door closed and the team stood crowded in wait for Ray’s report.

“Ray is not a moron,” Nate snapped in defense of his friend, to which Sara rolled her eyes with a seething growl.

“Enough,” she warned before thing could get out of hand, “We have an army of Huns beating our door down, it isn’t really the time for the two of you to be picking a fight.”

The two men continued to sneer at each other over her head, but ultimately decided that the assassin standing between them would kick both their asses if they started fighting with everyone else standing in such close quarters. The silence was heavy as they awaited word from Ray, no one on the crew daring to say another word and the constant banging sound of the Huns’ battering ram had stopped, so hopefully Ray was getting somewhere.

“Sara,” his voice finally came over the comms, “Attila wants to talk to you.”

* * *

 

The team relocated from the space just outside the main entrance to the bridge while Sara talked with Attila in the captain’s office. The bridge was much bigger than the hallway, thank god, and so while tensions were still running high between certain people it could at least be more spread out. Nate was moping in his flight chair, and so naturally Amaya had selected the chair furthest from him to sit herself down in. Jax, Ray, and Stein were all standing around the holo-table theorizing about what might be going on inside of the office. Caitlin was sprawled horizontally in her flight chair, her head against one armrest and her legs swung over the other, and Len and Mick were each slouched against opposite sides of the same doorway, observing.

“So what’s this I hear about Raymond breaking my gun?” The recently returned crook asked his friend, who merely responded by pulling out his trusty flask and taking a swig.

“Mission in 1987 D.C., long story short there was a bomb in the White House, Haircut needed to take apart your gun to stop it.” He explained and Leonard rolled his eyes, he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know any other details regarding that situation, as he was sure dismantling his gun hadn’t exactly been the team’s first choice.

“In that case, I’d better get use to using this thing.” He said instead, pulling the knife Sara had planted on him back at the Oculus out of his jacket pocket and twirling it carefully, yet casually, in the air.

Mick watched the movements of the knife for a minute, a small smirk spreading across his features as he took in the total concentration on his old friend’s face.

“When are you two telling the others?” He asked knowingly and Len caught the knife by it’s handle, holding onto it for a beat before he tossed it back up.

“Not sure,” he admitted, “We probably won’t, just let everyone figure it out for themselves.” He stopped twirling the knife again, shooting his eyes over at Mick with a serious gaze. “That being said, I’d like to try and make it at least a week without them finding out.” He said, and hidden in his words was a request for his best friend not to tell, and so of course the best friend in question chuckled.

“That depends on you and Blondie, but I won’t tell a soul.” He promised, “Besides, something tells me we’re all going to be a little distracted.” He continued and Len hummed in agreement with the thought, he was getting the same feeling.

It was then that Len noticed Caitlin had abandoned her chair, and what may have been an attempt at sleeping, in favor of approaching the two of them.

“What are you guys talking about?” She asked, her hands on her hips and curiosity sparkling in her eyes as she looked up at them both.

“Nothing,” he answered, “If you’re looking to ask about what’s going on in there…” he drawled, jerking his head over towards the closed door of the office, “the nerds are doing just that.”

In all honestly he wasn’t too sure how he was expecting Caitlin to take his basically, and admittedly not totally purposely, telling her to get lost. He wasn’t really sure what to expect from anyone these days, what with all that’s changed in his absence, but her especially.

A slight flash of hurt, of dejection, did flicker briefly through her eyes just as it might have a year ago. But instead of ducking her head and turning away, or even rolling her eyes in annoyance, she squared her shoulders once it passed and shrugged. “If I wanted to listen to boys make wild guesses about things they’re too impatient to wait for, I would’ve stayed in Central City.” She said and Len didn’t miss the way that Mick’s eyebrows shot upwards at her statement, approving. “Other than that, it’s getting a little boring sitting in the middle of the cold war over there.” She said, sparing a glance over her shoulder that both Len and Mick followed, noting that Nate was tapping his foot rapidly while staring off into space, while Amaya was mimicking Caitlin’s previous position.

Neither of them was focused on the other, but even from all the way across the room you could feel the tension between them.

It was then that the office door finally opened, drawing the attention of the entire team. Both Sara and Attila stepped out, and Attila quietly thanked Sara for something before walking off towards the ramp of the ship whilst Sara turned her attention to the team.

“Well?” Ray asked, unable to contain his curiosity any more.

“Well they were here to capture us,” Sara began, “But Huns are surprisingly civil negotiators. Apparently there’s some other army not far from here that keeps stealing their supplies. They tried talking to them but the general wouldn’t listen, so they’re preparing to invade they’re territory and take over. They were going to capture us and force us to fight with them, I guess this other army has stronger numbers, so I asked Attila to give us a shot at negotiating peace with these guys and if the general still won’t listen we’ll fight alongside the Huns.”

“Who is this other army?” Ray asked but Sara only shrugged.

“Attila couldn’t describe any type of uniform or anything, so we have no idea when they’re from.”

“Great,” Nate said as he stood from his seat, “So we’re going to play peacekeepers for the Huns and an unknown army that, for all we know, could be twice as dangerous. Not to mention that if the peacekeeping thing doesn’t work we’re going to fight them.” His tone was overflowing with sarcasm, but Sara chose to ignore it.

“Get some sleep,” she ordered everyone instead, “We’re heading out first thing in the morning.”

 

* * *

 

True to Sara’s orders the team did head out first thing in the morning. Attila and about seven of his men were waiting at the base of the Waverider for them, to lead them to their rival’s camp and help negotiate some terms of peace should this meeting get that far. As they walked through the city blocks of LA Caitlin found herself near the back of the group, next to Mick who was once again pulling out his flask.

“Do you go anywhere without some kind of alcohol?” She asked; an eyebrow raised as he took a quick swig of whatever it was that he had, and shook his head.

“Nope,” he proudly exclaimed, she hummed in thought. “What?”

“Nothing,” she promised, “Just that I’ve seen your files but I don’t recall ever seeing anything about you suffering from alcohol addiction.”

Mick glared at her for a minute, then at his flask, and then at her again.

“I’m not addicted to it,” he insisted, “Just like it.”

“Right,” Caitlin said, disbelievingly. “You were only brainwashed into a bounty hunter and then after you came back to the team you spent a year thinking your best friend was dead, when it was originally supposed to be you, of course you’re fine.” She was almost mocking him, and she could see it in Mick’s eyes that he was seriously considering reaching out and grabbing her by the throat right here on the sidewalk, but she held his gaze firmly, daring him to do it.

“Here.”

It was the voice of Attila at the front of the group that brought their attentions at least partially away from each other. The group had come to a stop outside of what looked like a normal suburban house, but of course there was never any telling what might be on the inside.

Sara glanced up at the house before her, then over at Attila who nodded, confirming silently that this was the place. The plan was simple, for her and another one of the Legends to approach the general of this new army about peace with the Huns, and bring in Attila assuming they got that far. So she looked over on the other side of her at Leonard, who nodded and followed her lead up the front steps of the house. She knocked on the door lightly, but there was no answer. So she tried ringing the bell, but again no response.

“They’re hiding in there!” Attila growled from the base of the steps, ready to march up to the door himself and no doubt break it down. But Sara held out an arm to stop him.

“Easy, we’re here for peace.” She reminded him.

“I told you they wouldn’t be willing to listen to peace!” He all but shouted at the blonde who remained unfazed by the outburst, even as he marched up the steps to stand before her.

“Give them a minute to answer the door,” Sara commanded, not that Attila looked like he was going to listen.

Fortunately, Leonard saw that this was going downhill very fast and so he raised a fist to the door and knocked loudly.

“We’re trying to be nice about this, but there’s someone out here who wants to break this door down and take prisoners. I suggest that you cooperate before he does!” He shouted loud enough for anyone inside to hear, and for a minute it was completely silent. Then, just when it looked like Attila was about to turn to his men and declare it time to attack, the door creaked open.

Of all the possible people who Sara had been anticipating might open the door, a little boy was not among them.

He was very much a little boy, didn’t look any older than four. He had fair skin that was littered with light freckles and bright orange hair. He held a filthy purple blanket clasped in one hand while the other was still above his head and resting on the knob. A pink-haired girl ran out from the room on the left hand side of the door, skidding to a stop behind the boy. She was much older than he was, though still seemed to be barely a teenager, and had panic etched into the features of her face as she looked up at the visitors.

“We’re here for Lobo,” Attila growled menacingly at the girl, taking a step into the house that resulted in the little boy racing over to her, throwing his arms around her middle.

“He’s… He’s not here.” She gulped, bringing her arms down protectively around the little boy as Attila stalked closer to them, not stopping until he was bent down to her face and the boy had begun to whimper with fear.

“But you know where he is,” The lead Hun accused and the sound of his terrifying voice so close to his ears was enough to send the little boy into a full blown fit of sobs.

This, of course, angered Attila and he brought a hand back to strike the boy, so naturally that was when Sara intervened.

“Hey, stop!” She growled, getting between Attila and the children. “They’re just kids.”

“They are his soldiers!” The Hun insisted, “And I am out of patience!” He growled as he tried to shove his way past Sara but she still had a grip on his arm and so she used that against him.

“Run!” She called over her shoulder to the kids, who remained rooted where they stood until Attila began making some progress against Sara’s hold. “Run!” She called again, this time they listened.

Meanwhile, outside, the rest of the Legends were fighting with the rest of the Huns; as both had clearly gotten the message from the scuffle inside that their alliance had just crumbled. It wasn’t as easy a fight as the last time, as that had only been against a few Huns who were originally only supposed to be gathering a plant. This was against a group of Attila’s most trusted and experienced fighters, so it was needless to say that the Legends were grateful to have the advantage of superpowers on their side.

Still, they also had the disadvantage of nearly their entire team being ready to kill one another.

It, predictably, started with Amaya and Nate. Nate was going against one of the Huns when another got up behind him with a spiked club, and even against his metal skin such a weapon was going to leave a mark. So naturally Amaya, already using her totem to channel the strength of a gorilla, wrestled the club away from the warrior before he could hit Nate with it. The man of steel whirled around at the commotion behind him just in time to see Amaya maneuver her new opponent in front of her so that Mick could torch him, just enough to leave some singed clothing and skin.

“I had that!” He shouted at the two, who only rolled their eyes at him.

“You’re welcome!” Amaya shouted bitterly through her teeth as she took on another opponent.

Nate went and pulled the man away from her.

“Why don’t you go help your buddy Snart? Or Rory?” He questioned and she growled at him.

“You are insufferable,” she said, “Just because I asked you to consider Leonard’s words-”

“He has no idea what he’s talking about!”

“Guys!” It was Caitlin’s voice that cut through their argument, as well as an icy stream of her power flying between them and landing against a Hun who had been about to knock them both senseless. “This isn’t the time for that!”

“Cause there’s got to be a special time for everything, right Doc?” Mick’s mocking voice came from somewhere in the distance, getting Caitlin to turn around and look for him.

“She’s got a point Mick!” Leonard’s voice shouted from where he was still inside the house, but close enough to the open door that he heard his partner’s comment.

“Yo, can you guys work all this out later?” Jax asked over the comms, as he and Stein were in the air. “We got company!”

Sure enough a whole other group, presumably the rest of this army they were here looking for, had joined the fray. It was hard for Jax to see exactly whom they had for company, aside from the flying girl who was attacking him.

“Whoa,” he gasped when he threw a fireball at the girl only to have her deflect it with one of her own.

_“Fascinating,”_ Stein’s voice echoed through his younger partner’s head. _“Her powers appear to be very similar to ours, and look at her eyes.”_ The older man went on, noticing that the girl’s eyes were glowing a purple color that matched her fire, or plasma actually seemed to be a more fitting word.

“Grey, how about you ask her about her powers _after_ we take her down?!” Jax shouted aloud, narrowly avoiding another blast from the girl.

“You always talk to yourself?” Her voice was smooth and sharp all at once, mocking him.

“Helps me think,” Jax replied with a shrug before reengaging her in their fight. The two of them exchanged fire and plasma blasts for awhile, before the girl gave him a smirk and Jax barely had time to realize that she had been distracting him before his world went black.


	12. A House Divided

The fight with Attila and, now, his second in command took Sara and Leonard deeper into the house and through the back door. They were aware that the rest of the team had company, thanks to the comms, but they themselves weren’t yet faced with any additional adversaries. Attila either didn’t notice his real enemies had arrived or didn’t care, at this point Sara couldn’t tell which. What she could tell was that, in addition to all the fighting, there was an unusual amount of arguing taking place over the comms.

“Guys! Settle your personal scores later!” She shouted whilst using her Bo to fend off Attila’s sword, Len handling the other Hun attacking them.

“For God’s sake it was a joke!” Mick’s harsh voice shouted on his end, followed by the sound of his gun emitting a long stream of fire that cut off anyone’s chance at a reply, as he wouldn’t hear it.

Besides, Sara was a little distracted by the sword trying to slice her throat.

As her fight went on Sara tried to tune out the bickering voices inside of her ear, but when she realized that she actually wasn’t hearing them anymore a wave of panic surged through her system. With a sudden need to end her own battle she quickly disarmed Attila and bolted off back into the house before he could do anything to stop her. She tore through the short distance of the house and burst out the front door; but everyone was gone.

The front lawn was a complete wreck; burnt patches of grass and miniature craters of dirt were everywhere, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. Soon Len came up beside her, and the two remaining Huns behind him. There were tire tracks leading away from the house, so obviously this second army had a vehicle, which would explain how they kidnapped six Legends and five Huns all at once.

“We follow the tracks,” Attila mumbled, him and his lieutenant shoving their way throw Len and Sara, who for the record were about to follow, when a sound caught Sara’s ear.

“Wait,” she ordered, turning back towards the house where she could’ve sworn the sound was coming from.

The others listened too, and while Len couldn’t speak for the two Huns he certainly heard the faint sound that Sara had stopped them for. There was something, or someone, still in the house and that person was crying.

Without a word Sara took off up the stairs, and Len followed. The sound grew louder the higher that they went until there was no doubt about the fact that they were following the sounds of a frightened baby. Briefly Sara glanced back at him, and he nodded for her to continue. They both knew that there was no way for this to end well, not with the Huns behind them and holding some kind of grudge against these people, but at the same time they couldn’t just leave the kid. The cries were coming from a room at the end of the upstairs hallway, which opening the door of revealed it was mostly empty aside from one cot, and one very old looking, occupied, wooden crib.

The occupant of the crib in question was the source of the cries, obviously. It was a child that couldn’t possibly have been more than a year old with thin blonde hair and a red face from all the crying. It was wearing a blue one-piece pajama set and didn’t seem to notice the strangers who had entered its bedroom.

“Take him,” Attila’s blunt order startled both Sara and Leonard into turning around, the Hun general and his second standing right behind them. “He may be useful in bargaining for my soldiers.”

“And what about our friends?” Len sneered and Attila shrugged, unfazed.

“Your problem.” He said and Len’s hand curled into a fist.

“Our problem?” He shouted, “If it wasn’t for you and your army breaking down our door at two in the morning we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“You blame my men-?”

“ENOUGH!” Sara’s shout halted the argument before Attila could finish, leaving the cries of the baby as the only sound remaining in the room. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, your enemies have both of our teams. So for now, we’re stuck together.” She reasoned and neither Len nor Attila appeared happy about the arrangement, but it was true no matter how they looked at it, so they said nothing.

“What about the child?” The second Hun asked and Sara turned back to the crib, a debate warring in her mind before she finally bent over and lifted the baby into her arms.

It took her awhile, certainly longer than she felt it would have had she been alone in this room and not under the scrutinizing gaze of Leonard and two Huns, but she eventually rocked the child into something resembling calm and when Len located a pacifier abandoned under the crib he was finally quiet.

“We can’t leave him.” She decided, “And you’re right,” she ruefully admitted to Attila. “These kids must be important to the people who took our friends, they might be willing to make a trade for him.”

* * *

 

When Nate awoke the first thing that he noticed was that he had a splitting headache. The second thing he noticed was that he was no longer in the front yard of the house they had been at. Instead he was in a cell, lying on the bottom mattress of a bunk bed and as he sat up with a groan he noticed Ray was standing by the iron bars of the door.

“Hey,” his friend greeted him, looking over briefly.

Before Nate could return the greeting the bunk above him began to creak with movement. He leaned back into his bunk just in time to narrowly avoid a pair of legs swinging over the edge and nearly hitting him in the face.

“Are we back in Russia?” Mick’s irritated voice came grumbling as he slid off the top of the bed and spared a glance back at Nate, grimacing even more.

“No, we’re still in LA.” Ray answered and the arsonist growled, annoyed.

“Where are the others?” Nate asked, now getting to his feet and joining his teammates by their door.

“Amaya and Caitlin are next door,” Ray supplied, jerking his thumb at the wall behind him. “I think Jax and Stein are one over from them, so two down from us.”

“Amaya?” Nate shouted anxiously, “Are you ok?”

“I’m ok,” Amaya yelled back and sure enough her voice came from just the other side of their wall.

“What do you care?” Mick muttered under his breath but Nate heard him loud and clear.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The historian demanded, turning on his heel to face Mick and stare him dead in the eye.

“Guys…” Ray all but whined, tilting his head back for effect.

“Well?” Nate prompted and Mick huffed out a sigh.

“Nothing,” he grumbled, flicking his eyes up to meet Nate’s. “Sorry.”

“No,” Nate challenged, knowing the apology was false and only to shut him up. “I want to know what gives you the right-”

“ENOUGH!” It was Jax’s voice that rang out from two doors down, yet it silenced the entire corridor. “THIS is why we got captured!” He shouted, partially to be heard and partially out of pure frustration. “I don’t know WHAT has gotten into you guys lately, but you’ve got to put it away and deal with it back on the ship!” He snapped and still the entire hall of the prison remained quiet.

“Jax is right,” Ray finally said, not shouting by any means but still loud enough to be heard by his entire team. “I don’t know what exactly been going on either, only that it started after the mission in Egypt. But whatever it is needs to stop. Like it or not, things have changed. Snart’s back, Caitlin’s here, and we’re not hunting the Legion anymore. But we’re still a team; and we need to start acting like one.” He finished and again it was silent for a beat, and then two, and then…

“I don’t do feelings.” Mick stated simply, moving to take his flask only to realize that their captors had taken it from him at some point.

“Then don’t,” Ray said firmly, “Do what you do best and push it down,” he said, although he sounded almost dejected by the idea, even though none of Mick’s recent aggression had been directed towards him. “Right now we don’t know where Sara, Snart, or any of the Huns are; we can only assume that they’re worse off than us. So we need to focus on getting out of here.”

“Because that went over so well with Snart last time.” Nate mumbled sarcastically under his breath, prompting Ray to turn on him with a hurt and almost betrayed expression. “I’m just saying,” Nate exclaimed, exasperated and trying to get his friend’s pained expression off of him. “Caitlin and I were trapped back in Ancient Egypt, we escaped, and Snart got pissed.”

“Leonard was never upset with you over your decision to escape, Nathaniel.” Amaya’s calm, but slightly confused, voice suddenly cut in from the next cell. “He was upset because-”

“I know, he’s mad because Sara got hurt, and supposedly it was my fault.” Nate cut her off with a roll of his eyes; they didn’t need to rehash THAT argument right now.

“It was your fault,” Mick suddenly spoke up, his words very matter-of-fact. “Your powers take less than three seconds to turn on, and nobody was guarding that dungeon. But you chose to walk around as the Metal Man anyway. Caity was just acting on instinct when something landed behind her, she didn’t know that ‘something’ was Sara because your clanking footsteps drowned out her voice when she called. It’s simple; you took the lead on that mission, and you made a bad call. Snart doesn’t care that you don’t like him, he just doesn’t want you to make another idiot move like that.”

Things were quiet again, Nate gaping open-mouthed at Mick and unable to think of a defense. Fortunately he was saved from having to come up with anything when the wall that was separating himself, Ray, and Mick literally melted behind them to reveal Firestorm and the girls.

“Sorry to cut this revelation short, but we really got to go.” Jax said and without another word he reached out and trans-mutated the iron bars of the cell into water, just like the concrete walls.

 

* * *

 

“You promised we were gonna be ok!” Melvin, a little girl with blonde pigtails and angry tears currently streaming down her face, shouted while pointing an accusing finger at her “babysitter”, while the only slightly older girl closed her eyes and ran her hands through her pink hair.

In all honesty, she was every bit as scared and frustrated as Melvin.

Of course she couldn’t show it, as that wouldn’t do any good in getting Troy, Melvin’s youngest brother, back.

“Now the mean people have Teether, he’s probably dead!” The little girl continued to scream, referring to her brother by the nickname they had given him a few months back when he began teething and thus chewing on EVERYTHING, a habit that still hasn’t broken.

The little girl’s other brother, Timmy, was also panicking loudly at the moment and tugging on the hem of Kole’s, the pink-haired girl’s, dress.

“Wha…Wha…grmh…wha!!!!!!!” He wailed incoherently and Kole smoothed a hand over his red hair, inwardly pushing away the temptation to just scream at him to shut up.

“Relax, he’s not dead.” She said as calmly as she possibly could, though there was still an undeniable hint of malice in her voice. She didn’t exactly believe her own words, as based on what she knows about the Huns they’ll most likely slaughter Troy the minute they find him, and they will find him. “This is all your fault!” She suddenly shouted, turning around to face Lobo, their leader who was currently sitting at the office desk and watching security footage of their prisoners.

Their group has two hideouts: the house, and a nearby jail building. The older members of the group spend most of their time in the jail, while Lobo stationed Kole in the house to mind the younger members and keep lookout for anyone who might pose a danger, which means keeping a lookout for pretty much anyone. Presently the four of them were crammed into the little office of the jail, while most of the others were off standing guard in various positions.

“My fault?” Lobo asked accusingly, spinning his chair around and running a hand through his black mullet. “You’re the one who let loudmouth here answer the door.” He reminded Kole as she finally gave in to Timmy’s flailing arms and lifted him into her own, despite how awkward holding him is simply due to her very small frame.

“I didn’t LET him answer it, he ran away from me while I was calming Melvin down!” She shouted over Timmy’s seemingly endless crying.

“How hard can it be to keep them both away from the door?” Lobo demanded, “That’s all you had to do!”

“Uh, guys?” Melvin piped up while Kole and Lobo were arguing, but between their loud voices and Timmy’s they didn’t hear her. She saw something on the screen of Lobo’s abandoned security monitor. “Guys!” She shrieked and this time they heard her.

“What Melvin?” Kole snapped, the little girl seemed to shrink at the harsh tone but still pointed at the screen.

“They’re gone,” she murmured, showing both her babysitter and her leader that their “prisoners” were currently walking down the corridor they had been locked in.

For a moment Lobo just stared at the screen, slack jawed, before he finally regained his wits and grabbed hold of the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

“They’re out, you guys know what to do.”

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Sara, Leonard, and the two remaining Huns were following the trail of tire tracks left behind by whatever vehicle had taken their friends. Sara was holding the baby, switching off with Len when her arms got tired and vice versa, but neither of them were willing to let either of the Huns take a turn, too afraid that they might not let him go and then possibly kill him of the whole bargaining plan goes south. They had raided the house for supplies for him, in case they’re walking for a few hours, but aside from a few loose diapers they couldn’t find anything, which was starting to become a problem.

The baby was becoming increasingly fussy; transferring from Sara to Len only to go back to Sara after less than a minute, squirming and whining no matter who was holding him, and his pacifier had hit the ground at least three times by now. They stopped to check his diaper but it was completely dry, so that wasn’t the problem.

“He’s probably hungry,” Sara grumbled as she handed the little boy over to Len for probably the fifth time in as many minutes.

“So feed him!” Attila nearly shouted over his shoulder at the two of them, he was getting as fed up with the baby’s crying as they were.

“We don’t have any food for him!” Sara exclaimed, as fed up as she was with the crying baby she was absolutely at her wits end with Attila and couldn’t wait to be rid of him.

“What kind of backwards land do you come from that you don’t know how to feed a baby?!” The lead Hun demanded and Sara was about to ask him what on earth he meant by that but the words died on her tongue as it processed in her mind.

Instead she just stared at him for a second, stunned.

Len stared at her, probably about to ask why her face had suddenly gone blank with shock and her cheeks slightly red, when his expression began to mirror hers as he realized what Attila was getting at.

“I don’t have kids,” Sara finally got something out of her mouth, and thankfully it was something helpful. “So no, _I_ can’t feed him.” She continued and while Attila still frowned it seemed mostly out of annoyance that they were out of luck in quickly shutting the screaming baby up. So it was without another word that he turned back around and the group went on walking.

Len was still somewhat in shock from the exchange, mostly about how it somehow wasn’t the last straw of Sara’s patience and she didn’t deck Attila, but he was snapped out of it by the baby all but throwing himself over his arm, trying to get to Sara again. She took him with a sigh and held him closer to her chest as opposed to just letting him hang off her hip like she had been before, smoothing one hand over his little tuft of blonde hair.

“I know,” she promised him in a voice that was somehow both gentle and cheery. “I know, but we don’t have anything for you.” She went on, “We’re trying, and we’ll find something soon, ok?” She all but pleaded, not that it did anything.

They went on like that for another fifteen minutes or so before they finally found a bush with some non-poisonous berry’s growing on it and so while Len picked a handful of them Sara informed the two Huns that they were stopping for a few minutes.

It took a minute or two at first to get the baby to realize that they were actually trying to feed him, but once Sara and Len took a seat on a nearby rock the baby finally noticed the piece of fruit being held in front of his face and took it.

“There you go,” Sara cooed in relief once the child on her lap was finally quiet and contently chewing on his snack.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the baby taking a new berry from Leonard’s open hand whenever he finished another, and Sara gently stroking his hair and murmuring little things about him finally being happy. Len, for one, couldn’t help but smirk at the sight before him, and it made him wonder. He hadn’t exactly had any sort of specific plans in mind when he had asked her about their future, back before the Oculus, and for now he didn’t want anything more than what they are. But still, there was something about the sight in front of him. Sara with a baby on her lap, a baby that in all honesty looks very much like he could be hers, and murmuring sweet nothings to him because he finally stopped crying and she doesn’t want it to start again, he realized that maybe someday he wouldn’t mind seeing this sight again.

“Do we think the team’s still alive?” She asked, jarring Len out of his thoughts.

“Probably,” he shrugged while the baby reached over and helped himself to another berry. “I didn’t get much of a look at these guys, but if they keep kids alive I doubt they’re eager to kill hostages.”

“No, but the team being imprisoned together right now, they just might kill each other.” She huffed and Len sighed, he couldn’t really deny that.

“They’re going through an adjustment,” he said, “They’ll be ok, at the very least they know that if they don’t work it out sooner or later they’ll have to face your wrath.” Sara chuckled at the joke, lightly jostling the baby on her lap but the boy was too distracted by his berries to notice.

“What about them?” She asked, nodding over to where their two companions were talking amongst themselves over by a tree, out of earshot.

“Probably plotting to kill us and the kid if this whole bargaining thing goes south, which it will.” He theorized and Sara nodded, she had been thinking the same thing.

After another few minutes the baby had finished off the last of his berries and so group set out again, and they weren’t walking for very long before they came to the end of the tracks they were following. There wasn’t much there; aside from a haphazardly disguised tarp strewn over an old army van hidden among the bushes.

“We can’t be far,” Attila’s second in command declared.

“Never would’ve guessed, Captain obvious.” Len remarked and Attila growled lowly at him, obviously offended by the disrespect shown to his partner, but after a brief stare down the two were able to move on and focus on searching for the location of their friends.

“Guys,” Sara whispered after they had walked a little further and she noticed a brick building up ahead of them, with what appeared to be a caveman and a gorilla guarding the front entrance.

“Lobo’s men,” Attila sneered,

“At least they’re not dinosaurs,” Snart commented, he’d had enough of the prehistoric lizards already.

Of course, the four of them weren’t the only ones with their eyes trained on the guards, the baby was watching as well, and he knew them. He must have recognized them even from the distance, because out of nowhere he let out a happy squeal that immediately drew the caveman’s attention to the bush where the group was hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Ok, so I am SO SORRY for how long it has taken me to get this chapter up! I'm getting ready to go back to school and for me that means packing and moving and working long hours to get as much money in my paycheck as possible before I go, so I haven't had much time for writing this past week or so! Also, Lobo and his army are comprised of various characters from the Justice League and Teen Titans cartoons, some of them I have altered the origins/names of just a tiny bit for various reasons (Teether, for one, I gave an actual name to because I really hope his parents didn't name him Teether at birth) just to help them fit a little better in this universe. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me with all your great comments, and I hope it doesn't take me quite so long to get the next chapter up!


	13. Don't You Worry Child

Caitlin was getting really sick of being knocked out.

It had already happened twice today, and that was two times too many for Caitlin. The first was in the front yard of the house, during the battle in which they were more occupied with fighting each other than fighting their enemies. The second was after they broke out of the prison cell only for the entire hallway to be pumped with toxic gas, rendering them all unconscious yet again.

This time waking up had her not looking at the inside of a cell, but instead up at a bulkily built man with pale skin and long greasy black hair styled in a mullet that reached past his shoulders. There were shackles on her wrists and that had her, understandably, confused. Surely these people didn’t think simple handcuffs could hold the team that melted a prison cell with their bare hands?

“Good morning sleeping beauties,” the man greeted in a singsong voice as the rest of the Legends, and the Huns for that matter, began to stir. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, what’s the Main Man thinking putting you in simple little handcuffs?” He said dramatically, pacing the length of the prisoners lined up before him. “Here’s the thing,” he all but sneered through his jagged, and most likely rotting, teeth. “I don’t want to hurt you, and my friends, they don’t want to hurt you.” He began, briefly stepping to the side so to reveal a group of people standing not too far behind him.

They were an interesting group, about as mismatched as the Legends. Among them was a caveman, an upright standing gorilla that would’ve reminded Caitlin of Grodd were it not for the beret it wore on it’s head, a girl about Jax’s age dressed in black jeans and a silver tank-top with a black denim vest, along with dark purple hair. There was another one who looked to be about that age, if not just a bit older. He was a man, though man might be a stretch, with pale skin, white hair, and piercing blue eyes. Actually he reminded Caitlin a little of herself, especially when Killer Frost had full control. The rest of them where children, two of whom she had gotten a glimpse of back during the battle at the house and one little girl whom she hadn’t before seen. That was also when she noticed that mullet-head’s gang was circled around four people: the two missing legends and two missing Huns. Actually, make that five people, as Leonard Snart of all people was holding a little blonde baby against his chest and the sight made Caitlin question just _how_ long she had been unconscious.

“You see,” Mullet-head went on, “This is all one big misunderstanding. Black Beard over here,” he gestured to Attila, “and his friends have been trying to push us off our turf for a few months now, but we’re a little too tough for them.” Attila growled and began shouting at these words, trying to move to strangle his enemy but the caveman restrained him. Mullet-Head spared the scene a glance for just a second before turning back to his prisoners. “Anyway, he got you freaks involved because he thought your powers could stand up to ours, big mistake that was.” He scoffed, “But no worries, cause I’m here to fix things.” He was only addressing the Legends now, and a knot of anxiety twisted itself up in Caitlin’s stomach, especially when he flashed a cocky grin in her direction. “The name’s Lobo, and since you losers didn’t know what you were doing, I’m going to give you a chance to join my army. You can say no, but keep in mind that your little team is already 0-2 against me.” He sneered, getting right into Caitlin’s face when he did and making her lean back as best she could without falling over.

“You’re loser army is nothing but a bunch of kids and two monkeys.” Mick grumbled from somewhere down the line, and with a snicker Lobo abandoned Caitlin’s personal bubble in favor of moving on to Mick.

He kneeled down in front of Mick, not getting quite as close as he got to Caitlin but still close enough that the other man could practically feel his breath on his face.

“I know what you did there,” the self proclaimed “main man” teased, “You don’t have to insult my friends if you want me away from your girl, all you gotta do is tell me she’s yours.” Mick kept his features schooled into perfect neutral as Lobo “explained” what he had been doing, not daring to look down the line at Caitlin who’s white face was now flashing through ten different indignant shades of red, and if Amaya, who was only one over from him, looked over at the words, well he didn’t notice.

“They’re not joining you,” Sara’s voice cut in from where she and Snart, along with Attila and his lieutenant, were still being guarded by Lobo’s army.

Lobo turn around at her statement, an angry sneer on his face as he marched over to her and his minions parted to make way for him.

“You’d better hope not sweetheart, cause you’re going to need all the help you can get to make it out of here alive.” He taunted and Sara held his hard gaze with one of her own, hardly intimidated.

“She’s right,” Nate called from his place in the line of captured Legends and Huns, “We’re not joining you, so why don’t you just let us go and nobody has to get hurt?” He suggested, though he tried to make it sound like a demand, and at that Lobo looked very, very smug.

“Alright,” he said, “Let ‘em go pigtails.” He ordered and that drew everyone’s attention to the little blonde girl who could not have been any older than six.

“But what about-?”

“Now kid!” Lobo cut off the child’s question with a shout and she whimpered in fear at his outburst, but in that moment all of the cuffs on every prisoner fell to the ground in a chorus of clatters.

Then, predictably, all hell broke loose.

The Huns were the first to attack, of course, and they attacked everyone with equal fervor. The Legends followed their example, though they were simply trying to make it to the exit and leave the Huns and Lobo’s army to deal with each other if they could.

Sara had just thrown both the caveman and a Hun off of her when, of all people, the little girl attempted to tackle her.

“GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!” She shouted furiously and Sara spared a glance over her shoulder, where Snart was struggling to fend off Attila whilst keeping a hold on the baby.

“Hey Snart!” She shouted back to him.

“What?” He called back, just barely managing to glance over at her.

“What do you say we make these kids our next return to the timeline?” She questioned and at first Snart actually found the time through his fight to look at her as though she were completely insane. But then he must have processed her suggestion, because he nodded at her and so with minimal effort Sara took hold of the child pounding her fists against her legs and reached up to tap the comms.

“Try and get the kids, we’re going to bring them back where they belong once we get out of here. Snart and I have two.”

Amaya was fighting the pink haired teenager when she heard the order come through her earpiece, and she had the girl pinned to the ground.

“Where are you from?” She asked the girl, who was continuing to struggle.

“What?” The young teenager demanded.

“My team and I, we can bring you home.” Amaya offered.

“No!” She girl protested, suddenly thrashing even harder. “You’re what, thirteen?” Amaya guessed as she tightened her grip on the kid, fearing that at this rate she might need to call upon the spirit of a constrictor. “You’re too young to be minding three children by yourself, and it doesn’t look like your older friends give you any help.”

“No!” The girl continued to fight, “I’m not going back!” She went on desperately before she finally managed to wriggle out of the older woman’s grasp, bolting away from her and any other Legend as quickly as she could.

She tore right past Caitlin, who was currently fighting off two of the Huns and holding her own against them until a third opponent joined the fight. It was the pale boy from Lobo’s team; only he was different now. His pale skin had actually turned to light blue ice, but every time that something shattered it, it regenerated stronger. She tried hitting him with a blast of her own ice, but that did nothing more than make him laugh.

“I was like you once,” he taunted her as the two of them squared off, the two Huns she had been fighting now frozen. “I can see it in your eyes, you’ve got a monster inside of you, it’s who you are.” He mocked while dodging yet another shot of hers. “But you deny it, and that makes you weak!” He shouted and with the words he sent an accompanying blast of frost that Caitlin didn’t have time to dodge.

Snart, still just barely managing to hold onto the baby as he fought, saw in horror as Lobo’s iceman sent a blast of cold that completely covered Caitlin, and it only took a minute for her to collapse.

“Caitlin!” He shouted out.

“What happened to her?!” Sara demanded, whipping her head around to see the team’s newest member practically seizing on the floor.

“It’s something with her powers,” Len began explaining, making his way closer to the blonde. “Her temperature is lower than normal, so if she gets too cold she can die.”

“Grey says we can’t touch her!” Jax’s voice came over the comms; Firestorm had been fighting the flying girl in black but abandoned the fight to attend to Caitlin, until Len explained what had happened with her. “My hands are hot from all the fire and it could send her into shock.”

“I got her, just get us out of here!” It was Mick’s voice that came yelling over the comms that time.

“One door coming up,” Ray confirmed and the next thing that anyone knew there was an explosion, as Ray had used his suit to blow a hole into the nearest wall.

 

* * *

 

Once the new exit had been made Mick handed Caitlin off to Ray so that he could fly her to the Waverider, while the rest of them hurried to do the same as fast as they could without any Huns or other unwanted pursuers behind them, especially considering they had managed to make it out with three of the four children under Lobo’s command. Once they got to the Waverider Sara made a b-line for the Captain’s chair, stopping just long enough to hand the little girl she had piggy-backed over to Amaya and to ask Gideon if Caitlin was well enough for travel, not through time, but just moving the Waverider to the other side of Los Angeles. When Gideon confirmed that would be ok Sara wasted no time in relocating them, and then cloaking the ship upon landing for extra precaution. Amaya had buckled two of the children into flight seats before Sara took off, while Len had elected to stand in a corner and hold onto the baby. Of course it was just his luck that the baby was the one kid to get sick from the sudden air travel and so upon landing Len found his jacket stained with the berries he had fed the boy just hours earlier.

“Teether’s tummy gets dizzy,” the little girl informed the former crook as the ship landed and her other brother, the four-year-old sitting next to her, suddenly began vomiting as well.

She winced a little at that, not having expected it, and Sara had already raced over to take the baby from Len when the second boy started crying through his heaving.

Luckily, Amaya hadn’t gone farther than her own flight chair and was in front of the little boy within an instant, lifting his restraints and rubbing a comforting thumb on his shoulder.

“I can handle them,” she promised, looking over at Sara and Snart and trying not to laugh at the sight of them, both now covered in throw up from the baby.

Sara nodded her thanks to the other woman before turning and leaving the bridge, Snart following after and the two of them made their way to the med bay.

“Do you think we’ll be safe here?” Len asked once it was just himself, Sara, and of course the still whimpering baby who was currently in her arms.

“Should be,” she replied, “The kids are, at least. Neither the Huns nor Lobo will be able to find us before we bring them home, as for if any of them will keep tracking us, who knows.” She answered and it was just then that the two of them made it to the med bay, where Caitlin was on a bed hooked up on of Gideon’s IV bracelets and under a fuzzy white blanket. “How is she Gideon?” Sara questioned, noticing that Caitlin was unconscious.

“It appears that the manifestation of her powers altered Ms. Snow’s DNA.” The computer began to explain, “Her internal body temperature is now normally maintained at 21.38 degrees Celsius, or 70.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Currently her temperature is 11.16 degrees Celsius, 52.1 degrees Fahrenheit, and climbing. She should wake within the next half hour or so.”

Sara nodded and began rummaging through one of the cabinets with her free hand, until Leonard came up next to her and took the baby from her occupied arm so that she could focus fully on her task.

“So what’s the plan?” He drawled as the little boy settled in his arms, Sara responded by turning around and flashing a small pill bottle in his face.

“Motion sickness medicine for him and his brother, maybe the girl if she thinks she’ll need it. Amaya will find out when they’re from, we bring them home, and then come back here.”

“As long as I don’t get puked on again,” Len teased and Sara smirked at him before following him out of the med bay, each of them heading to change.

“He’ll probably need a diaper before we go, too.” She said and he groaned at the thought, which of course resulted in her snorting a laugh. “I take it babies are off the table for wherever this thing between us is leading?” She was teasing him, borderline trapping him, and he knew it too.

“I didn’t say that,” he replied maybe just a little too quickly, but it was true, he hadn’t ruled out the distant possibility of a family between them someday down the road and today only made him picture the idea more clearly. Besides, it could be interesting to see where she’ll end up leading this conversation.

He knows he’s doomed when she shoots him a smirk complete with mischievous eyes.

“Well, could take some time, let me know when you want to start practicing.” She said and with that she continued off to her room, leaving Len where he stood to smirk after her.

 

* * *

 

When Caitlin blinked her eyes open she immediately squinted them closed once again, trying to block out the bright lights of the med bay. She groaned as the fight came back to her, bringing her hands up and rubbing them tiredly along her face.

“Never would’ve thought ice was your weakness,” The rumbling voice of Mick Rory startled her into opening her eyes again, turning her head to look over at the doorway where she found the arsonist leaning.

“My powers are weird,” she replied as she sat herself up and stretched. The two of them simply stared at each other, awkwardly, for a moment before Caitlin finally looked away and instead focused her gaze on her feet.

“We’re gonna jump soon,” he said, “We got three of those kids, they’re from 2026, we’re bringing ‘em home.”

Caitlin nodded at his words, but said nothing. She heard him shifting his weight after a second, turning to leave. He had nothing more to say to her, she had nothing more to say to him, so he was going to leave her to recover herself.

“I could be like him,” Her voice was small, almost broken, and pleading. She forced herself to look up after she spoke, and she saw him halting in his steps and turning back to her. “He said… that he used to be like me, but he let the dark thing that’s inside of him take control, and now he’s strong.”

“He was letting mullet head use kids as soldiers,” Mick scoffed as he approached her chair.

“Well I don’t think even Killer Frost would do that,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “But then again, who knows. My point is my ice didn’t even faze him, because he doesn’t deny that monster inside of him… he doesn’t deny who he is.”

“It’s not a monster,” Mick said quickly, “But he does have a point. That thing inside of you Caity, that Killer who wants to what the whole world freeze, that is who you are.” She arched an eyebrow at him, surprised. “But it’s not all that you are.” He finished with a look that said he was so certain of what he was saying Caitlin could’ve sworn that she felt some small corner of her heart become light with hope. “Don’t deny that side of you, but don’t let it control you either.” He advised and with a small smile tugging at her lips she nodded at him, and so with a nod back at her he turned on his heel and took his leave.

So as Caitlin sat there alone, gathering her bearings and mentally preparing herself to make a time jump after having just woken up, she couldn’t deny that for the first time in months a piece of her actually felt warm.


	14. The Outsider

Returning the three children to their proper place in the timeline was a relatively easy affair, all things considered. No one ended up in any danger and they managed to get the kids back to their family safe and sound. It also managed to stabilize the timeline by just a tiny, hardly noticeable but of course still helpful, bit. That being said the progress of restoring the timeline was still taking an agonizingly long amount of time, so upon landing back in LA Ray, Nate, and Stein went to the library and began their attempts at finding a more efficient way of repairing history.

“So while the geek squad tries to find a reset button on time, what are the rest of us supposed to do?” Len drawled once the three had left the bridge, the rest of the team still there.

“Try not to get into any trouble,” Sara answered with a shrug. “We’re gonna give them a couple hours to try and figure this place out, then we’ll see if there’s any chance of fixing things faster and if there is we’ll go for it, otherwise we’ll keep picking things up one by one.” She explained and it was easy to tell that she didn’t have very much faith in finding a way to speed up this process, without creating a bigger mess, but it was worth a shot.

“I know this timeline, I’ll give them a hand,” Caitlin volunteered, heading off in the direction of the library as Sara nodded at her.

“Thanks,” she called and so with that settled the rest of the crew began to disperse amongst the ship until all that was left on the bridge was Sara and Leonard.

“Let me guess,” he drawled as he approached her, walking in his usual saunter until he was just one step away. “You’ve got Captain’s work to do?” He asked and as expected Sara sighed with a nod.

“I need to log in that we returned those kids to the timeline, then I want to work on a chart of anachronisms we started before you and Caitlin came back.” She explained and Len nodded, grinning when she gave him a sly smirk.

“But if you help me it’ll go a little faster,” she sing-songed, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Then when we’re done, we could start on that practice we talked about?”

Len’s eyes darkened at her suggestion, his hands settling onto her hips.

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

* * *

 

Amaya found herself restless as she tried to occupy herself while they waited for Ray, Nate, Stein, and Caitlin to come up with a theory on what might be the best course of action. At first she tried to go to her room and read, but that only ended in her staring at the same meaningless sentence for over twenty minutes while her mind raced with thoughts. With a groan she set the book down and pulled out the tablet Nate had been showing her how to use and selected a mind numbing game from it’s dock, one she was getting quite good at, and began to make the little character jump over the obstacles. This distracted her for a time but it wasn’t long before her little guy was dying due to her focus having wandered back to her anxieties. Setting down the tablet she decided that there was really only one thing that could help calm her and so she rose from her bed and marched out of her room.

She made her way through the halls of the Waverider until she came to the open entrance of the library, and inside found the three resident scientists, plus Nate, spread throughout the room.

“Raymond that has got to be the most ridiculous idea that I have ever heard!” Stein scolded, he and Ray were standing at opposite ends of the large table, which was overrun with open books. Caitlin was seated next to the Professor’s empty chair, looking up at Ray warily as if she were also questioning his sanity.

Amaya was too, even if she didn’t know the context, she knows it’s bad when Stein starts using their first names.

Nate was sitting slightly diagonal from Ray’s seat, looking at her and giving a small smile that she dutifully returned. He reached out a hand to her and she went, settling herself into his lap as the two geniuses argued about whatever it was Ray had suggested.

“What just happened?” She whispered the question to Nate as he settled his arms around her waist.

“Not much, just our eleventh bad idea.” He promised, “Are you ok?” The question startled Amaya, her already stiff body straightening more as she looked down at Nate with a surprised expression.

“I’m fine,” maybe it was a lie, and he definitely saw right through it, but her eyes must have warned him not to question it because he only responded by tightening his hold on her and turning his attention back to the debate occurring over the table.

“Well I’m just spitting out ideas!” Ray exclaimed in a weak defense of his evidently horrible proposal. “This type of stuff you usually need to get to the root of the problem, but we can’t exactly go back to the original aberration that caused all this!”

The three men exchanged regretful glances at that, Amaya just looked down at her lap.

“You can’t,” Caitlin’s thoughtful voice brought all of their attentions to her, “But I can.” All four of them blinked dumbly at her words, “I wasn’t with you guys back then, so there’s no past version of me to run into during The Battle of the Somme.”

“Meaning that if repairing our initial breach in the timeline can fix things, we actually have a shot at it.” Nate said, grinning, and Amaya stood the moment that she felt him trying to do the same. He and Caitlin joined Ray and Stein on their feet around the table, but Amaya, she just slipped out, not noticing Nate glance at her retreating form over his shoulder.

She hurried down the corridors of the ship, up to the bridge and then through the other door when she saw that Sara was not in the office. She marched down to the barracks and stopped outside of the Captain’s bedroom door, rapping on it urgently.

“Sara,” she called, “Sara I need to talk to you.” She heard voices coming from the room, grumbling and bodies shuffling around until Sara opened the door.

Ordinarily Amaya would’ve been embarrassed to see that Sara’s shirt was so rumpled, not to mention Leonard was peering right over her shoulder looking a mix of worried and annoyed. On any other day she might have blushed and decided to come back later, in fact she should have done that right now. It wasn’t like this was a dire emergency; it would take the science crew in the library a few hours at least to work out whether or not their plan was even plausible.

“What’s up Amaya?” Sara asked and damn the fact that she knew perfectly well this was silly, Amaya couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

“I don’t think we should fix this.”

The entire corridor was dead silent.

Sara blinked at her, Leonard did the same, but Amaya held her head high; no matter how much she wanted to disappear and hide away in embarrassment.

“What?” Sara finally asked, her eyes still wide with shock. Amaya took in a breath, trying to get all of her fears and embarrassment under control before she would make an attempt at explaining herself. “You do realize that we’ve actually broken time, right?” Sara brought her out of her thoughts, and if she didn’t already feel like a delusional child she certainly did now. “Right?” The blonde prompted, raising an eyebrow up in question.

God Amaya wished she were standing on that enormous flytrap again.

“It’s just…” she trailed off, gulping down her nerves and letting out a long breath. “That girl who works for Lobo, the one who was in charge of those kids, I told her we could bring her home and she was so scared.” She admitted, finding some confidence in it when Sara appeared to be listening. “She started fighting harder against me, she shouted at me that she wouldn’t go back… and then she bolted right to the caveman and clung to his back. I know that the Huns told us Lobo and his group are an army, but what if they’re more than that?” She asked, “What if they mean something to each other?” Sara seemed to consider her words, but only for a second before she sighed.

“We can’t leave the time stream broken.” She said bluntly, a finality in her voice that left no room for argument. But as Amaya felt her heart break and her eyes begin to water, she decided that she would make room.

“This place is a melting pot of history, where people who were never supposed to have even existed at the same time have become families. They’re not going to want that taken away from them.”

Her voice cracked with unshed tears, and while Sara’s face softened with understanding Amaya could still see a war within the Captain’s eyes, she imagined it looked very much like the restless conflict Nate saw when she had been sitting with him in the library. Deciding that now was probably a good time to take her leave, as Sara clearly had no idea what to say to her, she turned hesitantly around before hurrying her way down the hall, suddenly in a rush to make it back to her own room and let her tears fall free.

Unfortunately, Nate was waiting for her in the doorway.

He looked down at her, his face an odd and almost amusing mix of surprise, hurt, and maybe even a tiny hint of joy. She stared back at him for about two seconds before she reached past him to place her hand on the scanner, opening the door and letting him in. She sniffled and wiped a hand under her eyes, trying and failing to compose herself as he followed her into the room.

“I’m sorry,” she eventually squeaked, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

“Hey no, no don’t be sorry.” Nate said almost sternly, following her path across the room and taking a seat beside her. He snaked his arm along her shoulders and her entire body contracted inward at the contact. She brought her knees up, hugging them to her chest, but despite the new tension in her body Nate kept his arm in place and rubbed his fingers soothingly into her shoulder, managing to help just a little.

The two of them sat in silence, neither of them really knowing what to say. This wasn’t exactly something that had an easy answer; in fact Amaya was afraid that it might not even have an answer she could live with.

“I’ve told you,” Nate finally began, “That I will go back to 1942 with you.” He reminded her, his eyes shining with a sincerity that had her sniffling again before releasing her tight hold on her legs so that she could rest her elbows on her knees and bury her face in her hands, only to look up once again just a second later.

“I know,” she said, “And that’s really sweet of you, but… that’s not what I want.”

Nate frowned a little at her words, but he understood, and he hated that he couldn’t promise her she wouldn’t have to go back.

“You still have a destiny.”

“I know!” She unexpectedly snapped at him and he all but jumped back, the previously quiet tears now exploding out of her and she tried to compose herself but she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, but I know I have a destiny.” She snarled the word as though it left a bitter taste in her mouth. “It’s a little hard to forget when every time I try thinking about the future, I’m reminded of it.”

“Ok, ok.” Nate said almost fearfully, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean… I didn’t know that was how you felt about it.”

“Like it’s a curse?” Amaya scoffed, unable to understand how Nate could see it as anything but.

“It’s not a curse,” he all but pleaded with her, “I mean it’s going to start rough yeah, but you’ve seen Gideon’s files on Mari. She’s going to be such an amazing hero-”

“And what if I want more than that?” She cut him off sharply, the shocked look of hurt in his eyes forcing her to rethink what she had just said and avoid his gaze. “I mean… yeah, of course I want to have a daughter some day, and of course I want my granddaughter to exist become The Vixen. But I want to be a hero too.” She admitted through her tears, “And I know it’s selfish but I want to be more than just somebody’s grandmother-”

“And you will be,” Nate promised, taking her hands in his and holding them firmly. “You already are a hero. You are so much more than just Mari’s grandmother-” He cut himself off that time, his face falling when she gave him a sad, watery smile accompanied by a shake of her head.

“No I’m not.” She said, “Not to history.”

His face somehow managed to fall even more with her words; because he knew as well as she did that she was right. All records of her are supposed to be destroyed in the fire that claims Zambesi, and with the JSA files under the lock and key of the government only a very select few people will ever see just the tiniest glimpse of what she did for them.

“You are a hero.” He promised her, “You have done so much for the world, and I think it’s pretty badass that your family is going to keep your legacy alive long after you retire.” He said and she did smile, though clearly she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Besides,” He went on, “It’s not like you’ll never see the team again. They have a time ship and me… well like I said, when you go back to 1942 I’d like to go with you.”

Amaya chuckled sadly as she reclaimed one of her hands and wiped away a tear before once again grasping her boyfriend’s, she knew this was going to be hard but with that being the third time he’s promised her that she couldn’t deny it anymore that he’s ready for things that she isn’t.

“I like you Nathaniel, a lot.” She assured him, “But I don’t feel the same way about you as you do about me.”

“I told you, I know-”

“It’s not because of Rex.” She interrupted and while he had been frowning before Nate looked positively heartbroken now. “I wish it were,” she admitted sadly, “I really wish it were because I do really like you and I wish that I could want to go back to 1942 with you and have a life with you, but the more I think about it the more I want to keep avoiding it and-” She was crying now, not that she had ever actually stopped, but the tears were now streaming fully down her face and Nate pulled her into him in a hug, through which she could feel his own tears falling onto her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, forcing herself to pull away from him.

“No,” he said, tears coating his voice and his eyes avoiding hers as he tried to get a handle on himself. “I’m sorry, I never meant to make you feel like… like I had to be part of your destiny.” She smiled sadly at him, she wished more than anything that she could kiss that heartbroken expression right off of his face, but she couldn’t, not without breaking her own heart. “Ok,” he finally said, getting to his feet. “I’m gonna, I’m gonna go.”

“Ok,” she mumbled after him and once he was gone she erupted into cries again.

 

* * *

 

After Nate left the library the group had decided to wait until he’d returned to discuss their plan, and when he didn’t they decided to meet again later. Caitlin had figured that she might as well go back to her room, but on the way there she walked past Mick’s open door and noticed him sitting in his recliner, staring at one of his bottles, and felt a pang of guilt in her heart.

She backtracked to his doorway, he didn’t look at her but she could tell he knew she was there.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said but he still didn’t acknowledge her. “I shouldn’t have said anything about your drinking.”

“You’re a doctor,” he mumbled lowly, “It’s your job.”

It was subtle, but Caitlin could hear the challenge in his voice. So she pushed herself off the doorway and stepped slowly into the room, not stopping until she was standing over him and he was looking up at her.

“That’s not the only reason I said it.” She promised; he scoffed at the notion, looking to the floor once again.

“You pretending you actually care about me?”

She frowned at his words, hurt settling in her chest, hurt and anger.

“That so impossible?” She asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms as he looked back up at her, his eyes searching hers for what she wasn’t sure, but he must have found it because he set down the full beer and sighed.

“You don’t want to care about me,” he warned, she quirked an eyebrow at that. “I may not be a criminal these days, but I’m no hero.”

She smirked this time, glad that was his reasoning, and reached down to pick up his beer.

“Good,” she said, taking a sip, “Because neither am I.”

He grinned at her, chuckling, and she was standing facing him, blocking his view of the doorway and unable to see it herself, so neither of them noticed when Amaya poked her head into the room or when she quickly turned back, and hurried quietly away with silent tears still leaking from her eyes.


	15. The Times They Are A Changin

After Amaya left Sara and Len weren’t exactly able to go back to what they were doing before she interrupted, she had given them too much to think about. So they opted to play cards instead, an activity that usually helped settle their minds and if it led to picking up where Amaya interrupted, then so be it.

“It’s not like I can force her to go back,” Sara said as she flipped down her card, revealing a three of hearts.

“Worry about her later,” Len countered with a five of spades, collecting both of their cards and adding them to his pile. “Mari hasn’t vanished out of existence yet so that part of the timeline is still safe.”

“For now,” Sara all but muttered, “But Amaya doesn’t sound like she’ll want to go back home.”

“Give her time,” Len encouraged, “Maybe she’ll change her mind.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Len stopped mid-card flip at his girlfriend’s words, his eyes flicking up to meet hers and finding a look of genuine worry on her face.

“Then…” He trailed off with a sigh, placing his card down only to find that it matched Sara’s and thus locked them into a war. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

They were quiet as they set out their cards for the war, Sara ultimately winning, and went on a few more rounds.

“Still,” she finally said as the game was starting to look like it might wind down, in Leonard’s favor unfortunately. “You brought up the idea of hitting a reset button on time.”

“So?” Len drawled, eyeing her skeptically and only becoming more confused when he saw a flash of hurt pass through her eyes.

“So there’s a difference between cleaning this place up and altering history so that it never exists.”

“I know,” He assured her, “Cleaning this place up is going to take forever.”

“Whereas resetting it is going to take you away.”

Len froze for moment at that, stunned. Her stern words weren’t really a surprise to him; the logic was there. If time never breaks and LA never turns into a real life Land of the Lost, well then the time stream never drops him in the middle of dinosaur territory.

“Before I ended up here, I think I was stuck in the temporal zone.” He admitted with a sigh, their game was forgotten by now and Sara was raising an eyebrow at him.

“You think?” She asked; he nodded.

“I don’t remember anything,” He explained, shuffling his cards absentmindedly. “But when I woke up here… it felt like I had been asleep.” He gauged her for a reaction then, and she was eyeing him curiously. “It only felt like I had been out for a few hours, but obviously it was a little more than that. Anyway, even though I’ll probably vanish back to wherever I was, you guys will probably keep your memories of this place since you were the one to create it. So you’ll know I’m alive, and that means you can go back for me.”

“What happens if we don’t remember?” Sara asked, “You’ll just be floating around out there.”

Len shrugged at the notion, to which Sara rolled her eyes but he chose to ignore it. “Maybe you’ll run into me,” he suggested, his voice an odd mix of mocking and hopeful, but Sara still frowned.

“You won’t remember.” There was a threat of tears beginning to gloss over her eyes now, making Leonard’s chest ache as he realized what she was really worried about, even if he couldn’t believe it.

Nevertheless he set down his cards and leaned over to press a tender kiss to her lips, his hands moving to frame her face as he pulled away. He didn’t say anything at first, just looked into her watery eyes with complete seriousness and ran a thumb over her cheek when one small tear escaped her control. He never would’ve thought that anyone, aside from maybe Lisa, could ever be upset by the idea of losing him. But clearly times have changed.

“I love you,” He promised her, never once taking his eyes off of hers. “Even if I don’t remember this place, I will remember that. I promise.”

Sara closed her eyes, a few more tears escaping her control as she met Leonard’s lips again in a quick peck of a kiss.

“I love you too,” she said before kissing him again, and then again. As the minutes went on their kisses grew more and more heated until, finally, they managed to get back to where they were before Amaya interrupted.

* * *

 

“So, when did the powers show up?” Mick asked; tossing the bag of chips he and Caitlin had just finished towards the trashcan and frowning when he missed but making no move to pick up the bag. Caitlin had pulled up a long disregarded desk chair from the corner of his room and the two of them had spent the past half hour or so talking and eating chips. It started with Mick catching her up on missions that had happened before she came on board, which soon led to her getting him up to date with what had been going on in Central City, and now they had, apparently, arrived at the topic of her powers.

She bit at the inside of her lip; so far it had been almost an unspoken rule on board that no one was to ask her about her powers. But then again Mick Rory has never been one to follow rules.

“After Barry created flashpoint,” she admitted, “But they didn’t fully takeover until… well once briefly after I saved Barry’s life, but then more permanently after Abra Kadabra stabbed me.”

“What kind of stupid name is Abra Kadabra?” Mick grumbled and Caitlin smirked a laugh at the question. “So wait?” Mick went on, “After the Scarlet Idiot changed time, so that means you had powers during the whole Dominators thing?”

Caitlin frowned again, her eyes falling away from him and instead settling on her fingernails as she began to pick at them. Mick watched her quietly, waiting for her to give him some kind of answer, even if it was just telling him to shut up and mind his own business.

Finally she found it in her to meet his eyes again, “I didn’t know how to control them then.” She said; the half wild look of intrigue in his eyes letting her know that the response she just gave did anything but end the conversation.

“You know how to control them now?” He asked with a smile that Caitlin would’ve once called sadistic, especially with his eyes sparkling in such a near manic way, but times have changed and on Mick at least, that look is simply a knowing excitement.

“More or less,” she responded with a shrug, knowing her best bet was to keep this vague. “I’m not going by Killer Frost these days, so that’s a plus.”

Mick hummed in thought, “Killer Frost,” He mused, “Doesn’t seem to fit you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Mick smiled at her, not that fake closed mouth smile that he gives the others when he’s pretending he finds their insults funny, but a genuine smile that almost prompted one of her own. “Although I’m not sure I want to use Elsa as my codename.” She joked and Mick shrugged.

“Stick with what you’ve got,” he suggested as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Drop the Killer, use Frost.”

“Frost,” Caitlin repeated, testing the sound of the name on her tongue before nodding. “I can work with Frost.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey Nate?” Ray called as he ventured into the barracks and approached his friend’s door. “Nate?” He asked again with a knock, he and Stein really wanted to start looking into that theory Caitlin had about being able to send her to stop LA from becoming a hodge-podge of time, but it would help to not be missing half their group. “Nate?” There was still no answer, so he was about to turn down the hall and try Amaya’s quarters when the metal door finally slid open, revealing a long faced and bleary-eyed Nate. “Nate!” Ray greeted excitedly before registering his best friend’s appearance. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Nate sniffled and let out a shaky breath, trying regain some semblance of his voice in order to answer. “Amaya broke up with me,” his voice was barely above a whisper, and it was a shaky whisper at that.

“Oh my god,” Ray gasped, “I’m so sorry.”

Nate nodded and sniffled again, “Thanks Ray,” he said, he did honestly appreciate Ray’s sympathy, but he also hoped that his friend wouldn’t press for more information.

Well, has there ever been a time when Raymond Palmer has not pressed for more information?

“I guess all this talk about fixing our mistakes and everything, it must have her thinking about Mari, huh?” He asked and Nate had to briefly pinch his eyes shut to keep from crying again.

“Yeah,” he just barely got out in a weak crack of a voice. “She uh… she’s not so sure she wants to go back to 1942.”

Ray’s eyes, as Nate probably should’ve expected, widened to nearly the size of dinner plates at that.

“What?” He asked dumbly, “Nate… she has to go back-”

“I know, I tried telling her that.” Nate interrupted but Ray was already plunging deep into panic mode with no signs of coming back to the platform of levelheadedness anytime soon.

“Well I mean she’s always known she has to go back… what changed?” He spluttered, beginning to pace right there in the doorway.

“I don’t know,” Nate groaned, wishing that Ray would either start being a little more sensitive or just leave him to his misery.

“If she doesn’t go back then her daughter will never be born, and if she’s never born then Mari won’t be born! So many people in Detroit could lose their families or their own lives or… or…. or…. She needs to go back!” He ranted, looking at Nate as if he thought this were new information to the historian.

“Ray, I know.” Nate assured him, “I tried to tell her that, I tried to tell her how amazing of a hero Mari will turn out to be but she didn’t want to hear it. She said that she wants to be remembered as hero, not just Mari’s grandmother.”

“What?” Ray questioned, completely baffled, “She is a hero!”

“I tired telling her that too,” Nate defended, “But-”

“I mean the records of her are all destined to be destroyed in the fire that burns down her village, or locked up by the CIA.” Ray interrupted, “But she can’t stop the fire from happening, she knows that, right? Right?” He all but demanded as he began free falling even deeper into the pit of fear that he was already buried in.

“I don’t know,” Nate answered honestly, “I don’t think she knows what she wants, but I couldn’t force her to go.”

“Maybe you can’t,” Ray said, getting that dawning look on his face as if a light bulb had just gone off in his head. “But there’s someone who can,” and with that declaration the dark haired scientist took off running down the hall and Nate, too tired to care about what his buddy was about to do, turned back into his room and closed the door.

 

* * *

 

Sara giggled, a rarity for her these days, as Leonard loomed over her, his eyes dark with desire.

“Are you going to sing for me Canary?” He teased her in a low, husky voice that sent a shiver down her spine, a coy smile playing on her lips as she held his gaze while reaching her hand down to grasp him, biting her lip when she actually saw his breath hitch with her touch.

“I don’t know,” she mocked, “Think you can make me?”

He smirked at her challenge, leaning down to kiss her. She met his lips eagerly; their kiss quickly heating and her short nails raking through his closely cropped hair. A little further down Len could feel her slick thighs against his hips, she was more than ready for him and frankly he was more than ready for her. He was just about to enter her, about to give in to what they were both craving, when a loud banging of metal suddenly sounded from across the room.

“Sara!” It was Raymond’s muffled voice that came shouting from the other side of the door, accompanied of course by the incessant knocking. “Sara!”

“Ugh!” Sara nearly growled as she and Leonard broke their near-swallowing kiss and she flopped her head back on the mattress.

“Sara!” Ray’s voice called again and his knocking actually sounded to be getting louder.

“Ah, the joys of being Captain.” Len mocked and this time it was definitely a growl that escaped Sara, and it was directed at him.

“I’ll be back,” she muttered, rolling out from under him and setting her feet on the floor where she proceeded to slip back into her underwear along with Leonard’s shirt. He raised an eyebrow at that choice but she paid no attention to it and continued towards her door.

Briefly Sara considered going back for her pants but, ultimately, decided Ray deserved a little awkward torture. So she opened the door with her most annoyed glare firmly in place.

“What is it Ray?” She asked, folding her arms across her chest and true to plan the scientist’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment once he saw her bare legged and drowned in Len’s sweater.

“Uh…” he stuttered blankly before somehow managing to gather his bearings. “I was just talking with Nate and… he said that Amaya… Amaya might not want to go back to 1942.”

Sara sighed as she leaned her weight against the doorway, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. “I know,” she admitted and of course Ray looked at her with a face of complete shock and betrayal. “She was here earlier, she said that she doesn’t want to leave the team.”

“Well she doesn’t have to leave now,” Ray pointed out, “But she does have to go back eventually.”

Sara sighed, thinking about how Amaya had shown up talking about not repairing LA, and the thought of that reminded her of Leonard and how he’ll essentially vanish back into the time stream and lose his memories of all this, not to mention that they have no idea what could happen to Caitlin if they change LA back. All in all, with every passing thought, she was starting to hate the idea of fixing LA more and more.

“Ok,” she finally relented, “Round up the others, family meeting on the bridge in five minutes.”


	16. Fate of the World

Five minutes, and for some one change of clothes, later had the entire team gathered on the bridge. Sara did a brief scan of all of them as she entered, trying to guess where everybody’s heads might be. The first thing she noticed was that she passed by Nate, as he was standing in the doorway and looking as glum as she had ever seen him, odd since she would’ve thought he’d be thrilled knowing that Amaya wants to stay. The next person she honed in on, obviously, was Amaya herself. The woman who had sparked all this was sitting on the edge of her flight chair, her elbows resting heavily on her knees and her eyes vacant as she stared off into space ahead of her. Next to her was Mick, though he wasn’t paying her any attention. Instead he was saying something to Caitlin, who was curled up in the flight seat on his other side and shrugging at whatever it was he had said. Ray was standing at the edge of the main control console, and quite frankly he looked as though he might start vibrating on his feet if they didn’t get this meeting going soon. Stein was with him and Jax was sitting in his own flight chair, they both looked confused but that much was to be expected.

“Ok,” Sara huffed as she went and stood beside Ray, leaning her hands on the edge of the console to ground herself. Leonard was standing only a step behind her, so that also helped. “Here’s the deal; when we took down the Legion of Doom we time jumped with our past selves and tore a hole in time, creating this place. Random people and things were ripped from their proper times and thrown here, and as far as they’re all concerned this place has always existed. Now there are some, like those kids, who want to go home. But I think it’s also safe to say that there are some who would rather take their chances here than go back to wherever they came from.”

“I’m sorry,” Stein said, looking positively horrified. “Are you suggesting that we not clean up our mistakes here?” He asked indignantly, to which Sara pressed her mouth into a firm line while trying to choose her next words carefully.

“I’m suggesting,” she began, “That before we put everything back where it was before we broke time, we take a minute and consider if we should be doing that.”

“Unbelievable.” Ray grumbled, throwing his hands up in exasperation before he turned his furious gaze onto Sara. “It’s our job to protect the timeline, not let it run into chaos.”

“Need I remind you that I almost died trying to restore free will to your precious timeline,” Leonard drawled, snapping everyone’s attention over to him but the only person he was looking at was Ray. “And while this may be a little disorganized, it’s a show of free will if I ever saw one.”

“Besides,” Mick spoke up, “You’re talking about protecting a timeline that the Time Master’s engineered, and we hated those bastards.”

That got everyone stop and consider what they were talking about, even Stein.

“What do you think Caitlin?” Sara finally asked, resulting in the newest legend straightening up in her seat with surprise.

“Me?” She asked; Sara nodded.

“You came here of your own free will,” the blonde reminded her, “I’m sure you’re not the first. Do you think we should keep this place how it is?”

Caitlin thought for a minute, but in the end she only shrugged, still gaping slightly with the surprise of being put on the spot in such a critical discussion.

“I don’t know a world without this place,” she reminded, “But most people who come here willingly are usually either thrill seekers or just lost. Honestly, I’m not sure keeping this place is a good idea, since most people who come in never come out. But I don’t know what it was like before, if it was better or worse, so I can’t really say.”

“Well it was certainly less deadly as the home of the movie industry.” Stein said, obviously having decided that he is still in favor of the idea of putting history back to normal.

“By the way, where are movies made if not LA?” Jax questioned and Caitlin shrugged.

“Mostly New York,” She replied, “Although some more studios have started popping up in different areas of Louisiana the past few years.”

“Guys, focus.” Sara ordered, pulling everyone’s attention back to her. “What do we think?” She asked, “Are we going to keep trying to find a way to stop this mess from existing, or are we just going to leave well enough alone?”

“You can’t seriously be considering allowing dinosaurs and humans from all over history to remain in the same place?” Stein questioned, “What, dare I ask, even brought this on?”

Sara didn’t mean to do it, but her eyes flickered over to Amaya for a fraction of a second, and the dark haired woman met her gaze. Even though the eye contact between the two was brief, it was anything but subtle.

“One of Lobo’s soldiers,” Sara said before anyone could question Amaya on anything. “The girl with pink hair, Amaya had her during the fight and told her we could bring her home, she became very adamant that she didn’t want to leave.”

“Well of course she doesn’t want to leave, children often don’t take well to the idea of change and we have no idea how long she’s been out here.” Stein argued but Amaya shook her head at him.

“You didn’t see her,” she reminded the well-meaning professor. “From the second I brought up that she could go home… she looked terrified. We don’t know where or when home is for her, she could’ve come here to escape it for all we know.”

“So you think it’s better to allow her to run amongst prehistoric carnivores more than capable of swallowing her whole, under the supervision of a deranged lunatic who’s idea of keeping her safe was to leave her alone in a house to care for three young children with meta-human abilities. Of course.” Stein scolded and Amaya’s eyes fell back to her feet as she remained quiet.

“He’s right,” Ray agreed, “We can’t leave this place like this, it’s too dangerous.” He turned to Amaya then, his eyes accusing and staring holes into the top of her head until she couldn’t take it anymore and looked up to meet him, daring him to say what he was thinking. “Besides, that girl isn’t the only reason we’re having this conversation.”

“Ray,” Sara warned, hoping to keep the peace but she knew it was pointless. While Ray may be the ultimate peacekeeper that only means that when he wants to break the peace there will be no stopping him.

“Are you going to tell them?” He challenged, “Or are you just going to sit here and pretend you weren’t the one who started this?”

“Whoa, Ray, what are you talking about?” Jax questioned, getting the sense that he had missed something and so Ray looked to Amaya again, who simply flicked her eyes back to the floor.

“Amaya isn’t planning on going back to 1942.” The genius revealed, turning all eyes onto Amaya and her glare onto him.

“What?” Stein gasped but Amaya ignored him, rising to her feet with a newfound fury in her eyes and a snarl on her face.

“That isn’t what I said,” she informed Ray.

“Well then what did you say?” He demanded of her, holding her gaze steadily until she finally turned away without a word and marched off the bridge.

“Ok,” Sara all but muttered in defeat, finally breaking the heavy silence that had been building on the bridge ever since Ray first opened his mouth. “Obviously this isn’t going to be an easy decision, but whatever we decide I want to make that choice together.” She paused and directed a glare up at Ray, “All of us.” She stressed and Ray at least had the decency to look away, therefor she returned her attention to the rest of the group. “So I want everyone to think on it, the pros and cons of attempting to erase this version of LA, and we’ll meet back here in two hours to figure it out; sound fair?” She asked and when she received a mix of unenthusiastic head nods and murmured agreements she took that as the best she was going to get and dismissed everyone back to their own devices.

 

* * *

 

Even though he had been perfectly content talking with Caitlin before the meeting, hell he had even been enjoying it, after the meeting Mick headed straight for the barracks with no intentions of stopping at his own room. Instead he made his way to Amaya’s door and knocked, although there was really no point to that considering he didn’t bother waiting for a response before he pressed his hand to the scanner and let himself in anyway. He sighed upon opening the door, taking a few seconds to just stand there and take in the sight before him. He hadn’t entirely known what to expect, obviously something had gone down between her and Haircut that he had somehow missed. He thought that he might walk in here to find her on her bed crying, or maybe even using the strength of a Gorilla to punch a dent in her wall. But the sight that greeted him was none of that. Instead it was Amaya, frown on her face but completely tear free, lying on her floor and staring up at the ceiling, her hands resting calmly atop her stomach.

“Why are you on the floor?” In spite of the scene he’d just witnessed on the bridge, her decision to lay in the middle of her floor was what he was most curious about. When she turned her face to him he scratched his initial observation about her not crying, because those were definitely unshed tears shining in her eyes.

She shrugged in response to him, “Didn’t feel like getting into bed.” She answered and he sighed again, this time stepping into her room and closing the door behind him.

As he approached her she moved to rise up and sit, assuming when he started leaning down that he was going to sit beside her. But he held out a hand in a signal for her to stop, and though she didn’t return to lying completely flat she did obey. Instead of sitting down like she’d assumed he was doing, Mick placed one arm along her back and the other under her knees. Amaya didn’t question him, her mind was too frazzled and instead she wordlessly looped her arms around his neck and shifted her weight into him as he lifted her. On his feet, Mick barely needed to take two steps to cross the room before he carefully deposited Amaya onto her mattress.

Once she hit the bed Amaya wouldn’t allow herself to lie down, and pushed herself to a sitting position no matter how much Mick frowned at her. But he let her do as she pleased, and once she was settled with her back against the wall he perched himself on the very edge of her bed, trying to make himself comfortable without intruding on her personal space.

“So Haircut says you don’t want to go back to 1942, you say you didn’t say that, but when he asked what you DID say you stormed out of the bridge so…?” He trailed and Amaya sighed, tipping her head back against the wall with a groan.

“It’s complicated,” she moaned, but Mick wasn’t impressed.

“Complicated or not, you still said something.” He reminded her and it was all she could do to keep from scowling at him, and ultimately she may not have fully concealed it.

“Well I didn’t talk to Ray,” she nearly snapped, but not quite. “And I don’t know what Nate told him.”

“So what did you tell Pretty?”

Amaya sighed again, trying to figure out what exactly she had said to Nate and what she really meant by it.

“That I don’t want him coming with me to 1942.” That was as good a place as any to start, and while normally the sight of Mick’s eyebrows shooting up nearly to his scalp would make her laugh, right now it only inflicted a twisting feeling of guilt inside of her.

“How’d he take that?” Amaya shrugged at his question.

“Not well,” she replied, “I don’t think he understood it at first, I think he thought I meant I don’t want to go back to 1942 at all.” She paused briefly to wipe at her eyes, to rid herself of what she was hoping were to be the last of her tears. Mick took the opportunity to process her words.

“Do you?” He asked and she shrugged again, sniffling and wiping away more tears.

“I don’t know,” Her voice was hoarse and weak with sadness and fear, and as soon as she heard it she knew she was nowhere near done crying. “He kept bringing up my granddaughter, he called her Mari.” She smiled despite herself, almost laughing at the pure absurdity of this conversation. “I know that’s her name and you guys are from the same time period she is, and to you she’s a friend. But to me… she doesn’t exist yet.” She pushed her hair away from her face, tears running down her cheeks but a sad smile still contrasting them, or maybe it fit right in with them, she couldn’t tell. “She isn’t even a thought to me yet, or she shouldn’t be, but she is and I love her so much. I love her so much that I cry myself to sleep at night; angry that I won’t be able to help her, furious that she’s going to go into foster care and I won’t be able to do a thing about it, which is stupid because I know she ends up with a great family! Then I cry because I’m terrified I’ll die on a mission and she’ll never exist, and neither will her mother.” Mick was quiet as he listened to her, he noticed when the hand that had previously been occupying itself with her hair fell into her lap and settled over her stomach when she spoke of her future daughter. Briefly he wondered if there was something there and she hadn’t told anyone yet. His brain knew that wasn’t the case, but that Amaya was thinking of her daughter in a real sense as opposed to a far off fantasy, and the action was the closest thing she could get to real for now. “I want my daughter Mick,” she all but whispered, “I want her so badly and I don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize her but… “ She trailed off, selecting her next words carefully. “She shouldn’t even be a thought yet, either, and I just feel like I’m, like I’m being forced to think like a mother even though I’m not one yet.”

Mick nodded, he couldn’t entirely understand how Amaya was feeling, but he could tell from the look in her eyes that this was tearing her apart.

“I think you should stay,” he said.

“But what about-”

“Don’t worry about ‘em.” He advised, “Like you said, you’re not a mom, so you shouldn’t have to worry like one. Do what you want to do, and don’t drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what might be best for a kid who isn’t even on the way yet.” She smirked at him as he rose to his feet, “Now,” he said, wagging a scolding finger in her face. “Don’t you ever cry yourself to sleep again. I ain’t much help with that stuff, but if Pretty isn’t helping ya-”

“We broke up,” she didn’t know why she cut him off, especially since his protectiveness was the first thing to bring an actual smile to her face all day. But she just felt the need to tell him; even if she began to regret it when he went slack jawed.

“When?” He finally asked; she fixed him with a deadpan look.

“Right before Ray got everyone for the meeting,” she answered before flicking her eyes away. “I went to tell you, I thought maybe you could help me, but you were busy with Caitlin.”

He blinked at her, completely and utterly stunned. She and Nate had broken up, and he was the first person she thought to go to for help, for what reason he had no idea but it didn’t matter right now. “Busy?” He finally managed to say, “I was just telling her what went on before she came here.”

Amaya shrugged, her expression indifferent. “Still, you looked happy, I didn’t want to interrupt that.”

Mick continued gaping at her, his mind racing with about a million different things that he wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her that she could always interrupt him, no matter what it looks like he’s busy with. He didn’t know what exactly she thought of him and Snow, but he wanted to promise her the two of them are just friends and she’s the only girl he’ll ever have eyes for. He wanted to reach forward and gently tilt her chin towards him, to tell her that his happiness depends on hers. But he couldn’t do any of that, because she just broke up with Nate less than an hour ago, and he can see it in her face that right now she can’t handle him being anything more than a friend.

“I’m your friend Amaya,” he finally said, reclaiming his seat on the edge of the mattress. “You can always interrupt me.”

She nodded with a sniffle, and the next thing he knew she was on her knees and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He returned the gesture awkwardly, still unused to being hugged, but she never seemed to mind that.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him and he held her tighter, trying to take away the tears in her voice.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe we are even discussing this!” Stein exclaimed, pacing around the library while Caitlin and Jax each watched him from their respective chairs. “Just the idea of leaving this place be is completely… completely insane!”

“So maybe we don’t let this place be,” Caitlin suggested when it looked as though the Professor just might have a heart attack he was so red in the face with frustration.

“So you are in favor of returning the timeline to the way it’s supposed to be?” Stein questioned as the white haired woman rose from her seat and approached him.

“Not exactly,” she replied, “What if we keep doing what we’re doing, cleaning this all up piece by piece, but instead of bringing everyone back where they came from we bring them to a place they actually want to go?” She suggested and while Jax looked to at least consider the idea, Stein looked absolutely appalled by the notion.

“We are not Gods Miss Snow!” he all but seethed, “It is not up to us to decide where people belong in history!”

“And the Time Masters?” Jax finally spoke, getting up from his seat and stepping to Caitlin’s side. “I know you hate to admit it Grey, but Mick’s got a point. We took down the Time Masters because they were corrupt, but at the end of the day, we protected what they made.” He shook his head, the true weight of that statement settling on him. “Whose to say that doesn’t make us just as bad?”

“Jefferson-”

“We have a chance here Grey,” he cut off his older half, “We took them down, and now we have a chance to undo everything they did.”

It was quiet for a few seconds then, the three of them attempting process even a few of the possible ramifications of might occur if they go through with Caitlin’s idea. The possibilities were infinite. So many people who died might live, but at the same time, so many people who lived might die. Entire empires could change with just one ‘misplaced’ anachronism. Time travel could be invented as early as the twentieth century or maybe not at all, it would all depend on whom they brought where.

“I don’t think,” Stein finally broke the silence, “That there will ever be any way to truly undo what the Time Masters engineered, especially since there is no way to know exactly what they engineered and what they didn’t. So the question we need to ask ourselves is, do we want to take the risk of trying?”


	17. Always Find Your Way Back Home

“So, do we have a plan?” Sara asked when the team returned to the bridge after having taken two hours to think through everything they could potentially be facing, most still looking nervous but at least a little less angry about this whole thing.

“Between all of us?” Nate questioned before shrugging, “Probably about half a plan.”

“We can not leave Los Angeles the way that it is, it’s simply too dangerous.” Stein deadpanned sternly, starting off this discussion with very little room for debate on that point.

“But if I go back in time to stop this place from ever existing we run the risk of the Legion of Doom beating you guys at The Battle of the Somme.” Caitlin put in.

“Which, depending on how we lose, could cause a paradox.” Mick explained, “Or an even bigger time hole like this place, hard to tell which but no matter what it would be bad.”

“Not to mention,” Amaya spoke up, “That some people, like Caitlin, for one reason or another came here of their own free will, and some might not want to return to their own time-”

“Which we still aren’t certain how we should go about dealing with that.” Stein cut in and Sara eyed Amaya, checking to see if the Professor’s words were true or if he was simply trying to overrule her. But from the way the other woman wasn’t looking like she wanted to protest, the Captain decided that for now the issue could be put off until later.

“But we can agree that it’s best for everyone that the dinosaurs stay in prehistoric times.” Jax continued on, getting the group back on track with what they had been saying.

“So until we can figure out what exactly to do with LA and the people here, we figure the dinosaurs are a good place to start with clean up.” Nate finished and Sara nodded, the expression on her face thoughtful.

“So that means we need to figure out how to transport a couple hundred dinosaurs back to where they belong, without dying in the process. Great.” She sighed, there was a reason they had started their repairing of the timeline with a vase and not a dinosaur; they weren’t sure how to handle those yet.

“We’ll figure something out,” Ray promised, “But for now we know where the dinosaur’s belong and let’s face it, we’re not going to ask them if they’d rather be dropped off anywhere else so the sooner we get them out of here, the less we have to worry about while we’re trying to figure out everything else.”

“Ok,” Sara agreed, “Let’s get started.”

 

* * *

 

That night was spent with the entire team in the library, all of them scribbling, erasing, and scribbling again different theories onto the whiteboard about how they could possibly send all the dinosaurs back to where they belong, preferably with as few trips back and forth as possible. As the hours went on their ideas, predictably, became more and more far fetched before nearly everyone was falling asleep wherever they sat, be it the floor or an actual chair, and the discussions were now mostly between Ray, Stein, and Sara.

“I’ve got it!” Ray enthusiastically announced for the umpteenth time, he had also consumed the most coffee out of anyone.

“Oh yeah?” Sara asked skeptically as the genius grabbed the whiteboard marker, either not hearing the sarcasm in her voice or not caring.

“What is this place?” He asked, turning to the group.

“A mess,” Len offered sarcastically, not to mention unhelpfully.

“No, well yes, but not what I’m getting at.” Ray stammered and Len smirked, even totally exhausted he always found the energy to mouth off to whoever was talking. “When we time jumped with our alternate selves, we generated a massive time quake-”

“Which created this place,” Sara cut off, obviously a mix of both bored and frustrated. “I think you need to go to bed Ray, we knew all of that months ago.”

“Right,” Ray exclaimed, picking back up as if the Captain hadn’t just called him crazy. “But, what happens to the ground when an earthquake hits?”

“It split’s?” Nate asked, confused as to where his friend was going with this.

“Holes!” Ray exclaimed, “The ground cracks and is left covered in holes.”

“Even I could’ve told you this place was a hole in the middle of time, Haircut.” Mick said, to which Amaya glanced at him almost sadly, she hated when the others called him dumb, she didn’t need him implying it himself.

“Right,” Ray agreed, “But what’s another word for hole?”

“Um… Pit?” Nate asked,

“Chasm?” Caitlin suggested,

“Ray would you just get to the point?!” Jax demanded, quickly growing impatient.

“A breech,” Ray revealed, “And we just so happen to have a friend in Central City with breech powers.”

Everyone was quiet. A few eyes flicked to Caitlin, most notably Leonard’s, but for the most part everyone remain focused on Ray until Sara finally stood up with a nod.

“Well that’s the first idea we’ve had in the past three hours that isn’t terrible, and at the very least it could help to have some fresh sets of eyes look at our problem, anyone opposed to a trip to Central City?” She asked and when no one spoke against it, she nodded again. “Get some sleep,” she ordered, “We’ll take off in the morning”.

 

* * *

 

After the decision was made and everyone filed out of the library Caitlin, as many of the others did, went to her quarters. However she assumed most of the others went right to sleep, whereas she knew there was no point in even trying. She still changed into her pajamas, but after that and brushing her teeth she remained seated on her bed, smoothing out the creases of a crumpled up photograph she had fished out of her backpack. Out of everything she had brought with her when she left Central, which admittedly hadn’t been much, only three things remained; her jacket, her blanket, and this picture.

It had been a spur of the moment decision back in her apartment, to grab it. There hadn’t been too much time after her and Ronnie’s wedding to take pictures and actually celebrate, but Cisco still managed to sneak in a few. Of all of them, this one was her favorite. It was her and Ronnie, walking hand in hand back into S.T.A.R. Labs so that they could send Barry off on his attempt to save his mother. She smiled as she ran her thumb over a stubborn crease that seemed set on dividing Ronnie and her, splitting the picture almost in half.

“Thought you left that life behind you?” It was none other than the drawl of Leonard Snart that snapped her attention up to her, suddenly open, doorway.

She knew she should’ve been annoyed that he had opened her door without her noticing, and lingered there staring at her for who knows how long, but instead she only flashed him a closed mouth but still sincere smile and turned the picture so that he could see.

“I couldn’t stand to leave this part behind,” she said as he entered her room and looked closer at the photograph, his facing falling and eyes glancing away when he realized what it was of.

“Sorry,” he said, a big deal for him, so she continued to smile at him with now just the tiniest hint of amusement sparkling in her eyes.

“It’s ok,” she said, scooting over to make room when he moved to sit at the edge of her mattress. “I just… I didn’t know where I was going to end up once I left, and I didn’t want to be completely alone.”

Leonard nodded at her words. “So, how do you feel about going back?” He asked and she tipped her head back with a whine.

“Nervous,” she answered, “I’m going to have to face all of them, and I know they’ll all be happy to see me but I don’t want them to feel like I just ditched one team for another, not to mention Julian.”

“Who?” Len asked and she chuckled, bringing her knees up to rest her arms atop them.

“Right,” she said, remembering that he had never actually met the other CSI of Team Flash. “He works with Barry and after a while he came to work with us.”

Len smirked, he wondered if Caitlin knew her eyes were suddenly alight with a wistful gaze that he just knew meant she was starting to daydream.

“He special?” He asked and the woman next to him bit her lip, her smiling face morphing into uncertainty.

“Yeah,” she answered, “But I don’t think I was ready to be where he wanted to be when I left.”

“And now?” Len asked, he didn’t want to pester her, but it was obvious that this Julian guy meant something to her and considering she had just been staring at a photograph of her deceased husband, well if there was someone out there who the mere thought of could make her pale cheeks red and her tongue with a talent for large words go quiet, it was worth risking a wrong move.

“I feel like I’m even less ready,” she admitted, resting her head against the wall behind her.

“Well I’ve never been married,” he drawled, shifting himself back to sit next to her against the wall. “But I do know that if someone really does love you, they’ll be willing to wait.”

She smiled at him, a real smile that reached the corners of her eyes and had him chuckling through his smirk.

“What?” He asked, clearly amused by the obvious fact that she was trying not to laugh at him.

“Nothing,” she promised, “I just never thought I’d be taking relationship advice from Captain Cold.” She couldn’t stop herself from laughing once she said it aloud, and frankly neither could he.

“Well Sara likes me, so I must be doing something right.” He said, “Seriously though, are you sure you’re alright with going back to Central City?”

Caitlin shrugged at the question, which she figured had to be better than a straight up “no”. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, and I didn’t intend to stay away forever, so I might as well go now.” She answered and Len nodded, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”  
“For bringing me with you,” she said and he smiled at her before getting to his feet.

“Couldn’t leave you out there to be eaten by dinosaurs, even if you were handling yourself just fine.” Caitlin beamed at his praise, a small laugh escaping her lips and it had him smiling warmly down at her. She had come a long way not only since that day he and Mick kidnapped her, but also just since the two of them found each other out in the jungle. That smile of hers, it was real, and it was something he wasn’t quite sure he had ever seen on her.

 

* * *

 

After a quick breakfast in the morning, Sara got into contact with Cisco about the team going to Central City. She didn’t tell him about Caitlin, figuring that was the newest Legend’s business to tell. Besides, Cisco had sounded distracted on the phone so she doubted he even would’ve heard her. He did tell them to stop by, mentioning that S.T.A.R. Labs could use some help as well but he didn’t mention what with before hanging up as the sound of what was probably a minor explosion in the background. So it wasn’t the most assuring situation to be flying into, but with the lives they lead it never is and it couldn’t be any worse than LA, so Sara piloted them halfway across the country and set down in the back parking lot of S.T.A.R. Labs.

“Ok, here we are.” She announced as everyone disengaged their restraints. “Now remember, Cisco mentioned that they might end up needing our help while we’re here, so whatever’s going on in there let’s try not to make it worse.” She was partially teasing them, of course, but at the same time she was partially serious because their track record for making things better before making them worse, in all honesty, is not good.

 

* * *

 

A part of Iris was relieved when Cisco told her that the Legend’s were coming to town. Another part of her was worried, because The Legend’s were coming because they need help and Team Flash is spread so thin right now that she wasn’t even sure they COULD help. But then Cisco had suggested that the Legends just might be able to help them with their own problem, and Iris was willing to try just about anything when it came to that department. Of course Cisco failed to give her a time for the Legends’ arrival, and so she spent the entire morning dealing with the usual crisis of whoever has decided to attack the city this week while also holding her breath waiting for history’s most questionable heroes to show up. Things were finally starting to calm down, the battle of the morning sounded like it was over, when the sound of an impossible but yet somehow familiar drawl sounded out from the doorway to the cortex.

“You know I thought since you knew we were coming that meant I wouldn’t have to pick your lock, but I guess some things are just too fun.” Iris spun around at the sound of the dead man’s voice, disbelief on her face. Cisco, she noticed, wore a similar expression when he whirled around in his chair.

“Snart?” He questioned just as Sara Lance stepped to the front of her group, smirking mischievously.

“We found a few strays in Los Angeles,” she explained, Iris blinked at the group. Sara said a few, but Snart was the only surprise member of the-

“Oh my god,” Cisco’s quiet exclamation cut off her thoughts, and she searched the group again until her eyes settled on a snow white head in the back, with dark brown eyes that were locked with Cisco’s.

But there was no time to say anything, because the sound of someone walking through the door from what had previously been Caitlin’s office cut through the tension, revealing none other than Lily Stein.

“Dad!” The woman exclaimed as she rushed towards the Legends and embraced her father, who was equally thrilled to see her.

“But apparently,” Snart went one, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the pair, “There are still some things I’m not entirely clear on.”

“Likewise,” Iris agreed, “Starting with how in the hell are you still alive?” She didn’t sound accusing, didn’t sound distrusting, but just stunned.

Snart sighed in annoyance, though he intended to answer her, that is, until Cisco cut him off before he had the chance. “Oh my god,” He gasped quietly, again, before very clumsily springing from his seat and taking off for the hallway, shoving his way through the group of Legends.

Snart watched him go before raising a questioning brow at Iris. “What’s Ramon’s deal?”

“If it’s what I think it is, he’ll be back in a minute.” She replied, and really, there was only one explanation that would make sense in this situation as to why Cisco had just gone sprinting down the hall. “Anyway, you guys need our help?” She asked, trying to move the conversation along before some new disaster inevitably strikes.

“Yeah, where’s Allen?” Mick, of course, questioned bluntly.

Iris blinked awkwardly at his question, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she tried to find the words to answer that. Lily, too, took a step away from her father and seemed to shrink with nerves.

“What?” It was the first word Caitlin had spoken since landing, her eyes that had previously been focused very intently on the direction Cisco had left in now flitted around the room looking for someone the knot in the pit of her stomach told her she wasn’t going to find.

“Umm,” Iris finally managed to get out, “That’s actually what we need help with.”


	18. Do You Still Believe in One Another?

Iris explained to the group that Barry was currently trapped in the prison he had created for Savitar in the Speed Force, and they were currently unable to free him without potentially destroying the entire dimension of Earth 1 in the process.

Needless to say, all of the Legends were rendered shocked by the story, but none more than Caitlin. Guilt knotted up inside her until she thought she might be sick. She remembered back to right after she left, when she was on the road and still driving without a destination in mind. Cisco’s face had lit up her phone a handful of times, and each time she ignored it. She had been so intent on getting away, on finding herself, and she thought that he was calling her to come back. He probably was, but still, she hadn’t known that Barry had been trapped in speedster hell.

Speaking of Cisco, he returned just as Iris finished the story, jogging into the cortex and looking around the group until his eyes settled on Iris.

“Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt. But uh, can I barrow Snart for a second?” He questioned, wringing his hands nervously together, especially when Snart glared at him.

“Of course,” Iris replied with a nod, having a pretty good idea as to what was going on and so with only a moment’s hesitation Snart peeled himself off the wall he had been leaning against and followed Cisco down the hall.

“First you peel out of there like a bat out of hell, and now you’re dragging me away too.” He observed as he followed the engineer, “What’s going on Ramon?”

“Didn’t think you’d want to do this with everyone around, and she was on her way to the cortex anyway so I didn’t have time to send a text.” The younger man replied with what Len could’ve sworn was an eager smile starting to spread onto his face.

Of course this wasn’t making any sense to Leonard, and he was at a total loss as to whom _she_ could be or why he would care. He was about to ask, when they came to the doorway of what he would assume was Ramon’s workshop, and his questions were answered.

Standing in the middle of the room, wearing a long sleeved golden colored top with matching pants and boots, all made out of Cisco’s trademark Kevlar material, was Lisa.

Her breath hitched when she saw him, her eyes locking onto his. He spared enough of a glance at the counter behind her to notice a discarded blonde wig and pile of something else he couldn’t quite make out from this distance. He didn’t have time to try, however, because Lisa was no longer rooted in her spot. She had taken one hesitant step forward, followed by another, and then the next thing that he knew she was in his arms and crying into his shoulder. That sent a jolt of panic through him, just out of habit, and he suddenly found himself suppressing the urge to push her off him and check her over for injuries. Instead he held her tightly, moving one hand to cradle the back of her head. He heard Cisco say something about giving them a minute before his footsteps faded away, and that was enough to make Len smirk.

“Alright,” he finally said after another few seconds, “Calm down train-wreck, I’m here.” He felt her laugh against him, which brought a smile to his face as well.

She pulled back from him then, a watery smile still on her face as she reached up and laid a hand on his cheek. He chuckled at the action, but didn’t move. Despite having just clung onto him like a lifeline she still need to look at him, and to feel him solid under her touch. So he would indulge her in that much, it was the least he could do.

“How are you here?” She asked and he smirked.

“It’s a long story,” he said, which it most certainly is. “But you can thank my team for being such screw ups.”

Lisa laughed before hugging him again; she would definitely be thanking her brother’s team, for everything they’ve done for him.

* * *

 

Together the two teams decided that it would be best if the Legends gave their help in getting Barry out of the Speed Force before trying to deal with LA. LA could remain a time hole for another day or two, and besides, no one knows more about messing with time than Barry Allen. Even if they had come here looking for Cisco, Barry could definitely be a valuable asset in fixing the time stream. The problem was that so far nobody on Team Flash had been able to think of a way to keep the Speed Force from destabilizing without a prisoner, and even with Martin and Ray added to the mix as a fresh set of eyes it was still looking impossible.

While all the scientists, along with Sara, Nate, and Jax, were discussing potential plans and Snart was nowhere to be found Mick was lounged against the doorframe of the cortex, half listening to the conversation and half daydreaming. He also noticed that Amaya was leaning on a desk not far from him, also disinterested in the conversation. He gave an idea a moment or two of thought before he pushed himself off the wall and went over to her. She looked to him when he reached her, and he simply cocked his head towards the door.

“Come on,” he said lowly, so almost as if he didn’t want the others to notice.

“Where?” She asked; he shrugged.

“Lunch?” He said it like it was a question, and maybe it was, as he hadn’t had a particular destination in mind when he walked over to her.

But she followed him out of the cortex with nothing more than a nod, so he figured that was a win.

 

* * *

 

“So, when did you decide to become a hero?” Len asked as he and Lisa slowly made their way back to the cortex, after she had changed into her regular clothes.

“After Barry went to speedster hell,” she began and stopped with a laugh when she noticed her brother raising an eyebrow at her. “Yes, they told me who he is.” She said, “Anyway, the Rogue’s don’t exactly take Kid Flash seriously and when he started showing up everywhere either alone or with Gypsy and Cisco, well it didn’t take the Rogue’s long to figure out Flash was gone. I knew you that you respected him and wouldn’t want them taking advantage of him being away, so I tried to keep them under control. They didn’t like that.” Now he was looking at her with worry, the kind that he used to look at her with when they were kids and he found out she’d upset Lewis while he was out of the house. She’d always hated telling him when she’d come close to being hurt, but for as much as she did she could never quite bring herself to keep it from him. “Shawna gave me a warning, said that they weren’t going to ease up and if I didn’t get out of the way they’d take me out of the way. So I came here and told Cisco that whatever was going on I wanted to help pick up some of the slack on the streets.”

“Speaking of Ramon?” Len drawled accusingly in a way that made Lisa chuckle, it was just like him to move immediately from one aspect of her life to the next.

“We’re friends,” she promised him, “He’s dating Gypsy, and they’re really good together.”

He frowned briefly; to which she smiled in a way that she hoped was reassuring. She is happy for Cisco, really she is. The two of them are still great friends anyway, and that on it’s own means everything to her.

Finally, Len seemed to realize that his sister actually wasn’t heartbroken over her longtime crush being with someone else, and was happy in her place on the Flash’s team. He smiled a real smile and laid his arm along her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as they approached the cortex.

“Kid Flash and Gypsy,” he mused, “Two people you mentioned who I don’t know.”

Lisa smiled happily as she leaned into her brother, still amazed that he was here. “You’ll meet them,” she promised, “They were with me stopping Prism, they’ll both be in the cortex by now.” She explained just as they approached the room and so Len reclaimed his arm and followed her in. The room, as they should have guessed, was loud with voices shouting over each other. “Welcome back,” Lisa huffed as the two of them made their way towards the group.

 

* * *

 

“Food really goes downhill in the twenty-first century, doesn’t it?” Amaya asked as she picked at what was left of her fries while Mick finished off his burger.

“Hm, maybe.” He partially acknowledged around his mouthful of food, “This place is better for drinks, but the food ain’t half bad, and if you’re hiding from the cops they’ll tell ‘em they haven’t seen ya.”

Amaya shrugged, they were sitting in a booth at the back of Saints and Sinners, a hole in the wall that Mick claimed was his favorite. So far she didn’t see the appeal, the food was mediocre at best, though better than what they get from the replicator, and the entire place was just barely lit. But if she had to choose between being here and being at S.T.A.R. Labs she would pick here a hundred times over, it was nice to get away from the majority of the team.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why Mick brought her along.

“So, any reason you decided to bring me here?” She finally asked just as her friend swallowed the last of his food.

“You didn’t look like you wanted to listen to the genius meeting,” he replied simply and she smirked.

“Very observant,” she said mockingly, “For a minute I thought you were trying to show me the future isn’t anything special so that I’ll decide to go home.”

Mick laughed at the accusation, of all things. “Honey, if I wanted to convince you to go back to 1942, I’d have taken the jump ship and brought you to Detroit.” He said and when her eyes flicked up at him, unamused, he laughed again. “Relax, I’ve never even met your granddaughter, only heard the stories from Haircut.”

“And what do you think of those stories?” Amaya asked maybe just a bit too venomously, but aside from the grin falling away from his face, Mick didn’t seem to mind.

“Well I think that, all things considered, it sounds like she turned out alright,” he said, “But I also think we know better than anybody that nothing’s set in stone, and there’s always room for things to get better.”

She smiled at him then; that was what she loved about Mick. He’s a brutally honest person, ironic considering he’s a former criminal, and he looks at every angle of a decision like this.

“Besides,” He said, pulling her out of her musings. “I thought you were gonna wait a while before making that choice?”

“I am,” she assured him, her appreciative grin still in place.

He smiled at her one more time before he got up from the booth, “Come on,” he said, heading towards not the door, but the pool table behind them.

Amaya smirked as she followed, her worries about her future forgotten for the moment.

 

* * *

 

“Why can’t we just use the bazooka that you used to create the prison?” Sara asked, so far Iris and Cisco had explained the situation with Barry and they had gone through a list of previous ideas that had already been dubbed failures.

“Thought of that,” Cisco sighed, “The power source on that thing is pretty much spent, and we can’t recharge it. Even if we could we would have to fire it off from inside the Speed Force and there’s no telling what that could do.”

“What about altering the prison?” Ray suggested.

“How do you mean?” Iris questioned him and he shrugged.

“I mean if there’s one thing any of us have learned from time traveling, it’s that nothing is set in stone.” He began to explain, “The Speed Force didn’t always need a prisoner trapped inside of it until Barry trapped Savitar, there’s got to be a way to change that back.”

“Except Barry trying to change things back from when he created Flashpoint is how we got into this mess.” Harry murmured from where he sat at the edge of the group, most of them turning to look at him. “What?” He asked with a shrug and one by one they all turned away, not saying anything, because they each knew he was right.

“The gun created the prison by using Savitar’s own power against him, essentially freezing him in time.” Cisco explained, “That’s why it constantly needs a speedster prisoner, because the prison is essentially a frozen moment in time.”

Sara perked up at that, “Wait,” she said, pointing to Wally. “You said that when you were trapped in there, you were stuck reliving the moment your mom died?” She partially asked, only for confirmation, and Wally nodded.

“So?” He asked, Sara all but laughed as the pieces began to come together in her mind.

“So if the prison is a moment of frozen time then all we have to do is unfreeze it.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Iris questioned, “When Barry and Jay went in after Wally they just barely got him to respond.”

“Because they were on the outside.” Sara replied.

“What are you talking about the out-?” Nate started but then it dawned on him what Sara was getting at. “The prison is a frozen moment in time.” He restated in awe, and though some of the other Legends looked like they might be starting to get the idea, all of team Flash was still completely at a loss.

“Brilliant!” Stein suddenly exclaimed, making his daughter jump in place beside him, not having expected the sudden outburst.

“Jeez dad,” she all but cursed, leaning over on the edge of Cisco’s chair while trying to regain her composure.

“My apologies my dear, it’s just so… astonishing!” The older scientist went on.

“What is?” Iris questioned,

“The prison!” Martin replied, “From what I learned during the time that I observed here, the Speed Force is almost alive itself, and so the prison that Dr. Brand’s bazooka created instructed the Speed Force to latch onto it’s hostage’s most painful memories and trap them within that moment of time forever!” He explained, or partially explained at least, rather excitedly.

“Wait?” Jax started, finally starting to understand. “If Barry’s trapped in a moment of time?”

“That means we can wake him up there, and he can dismantle the prison from the inside.” Sara confirmed, a mischievous grin on her face.

That only left one question.

What moment in time would be Barry’s personal hell?


	19. How to Save a Life

The plan was simple.

When trying to think of what moment in time would be the epitome of hell for Barry Allen there was only one answer; the death of his mother.

Since only speedsters had been able to see Savitar when he was still trapped in the Speed Force Wally was going back, with Sara piloting the Waverider since the younger speedster has never time traveled before and now really wasn’t the time for trial and error, not when they have a working time machine handy anyway. Cisco, Lily, Martin, and Ray were also standing by in the time vault with Team Flash’s version of Gideon, which had been connected to the Waverider’s after the incident with the Dominators as so to make communications between the present and the Waverider easier.

“Hey,” Sara said as she approached Leonard in the hallway just outside of the time vault. “Change of plans.”

“Already?” He snarked without the comment even having a chance to run through his head, she smirked at him.

“Wally and I are taking the jump ship,” she informed him, “Just in case something comes up, you guys have more people so it’ll be better if you have the Waverider.”

“Hm,” Len hummed in agreement as he placed his hands gently, almost cautiously, on her hips. She responded to this with a flirtatious grin and her arms winding up and around to the back of his neck.

“Why so careful Crook?” She asked teasingly and his grip on her tightened at the words, the small smile on his face growing just a little bit.

“Don’t want to go too far when anyone could walk by at any given second.” He reasoned, “Especially when _anyone_ includes my sister.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to inflict any scarring childhood memories on your grown sister.” It wasn’t Sara’s teasing voice that mocked him, but instead Lisa’s rather blunt and judgmental one.

Both Sara and Len turned their heads, not breaking apart mind you, to see not only Lisa, but Cisco as well, standing just at the bend of the hallway and staring at them; Cisco with a half empty bag of lollypops in one hand, the stick of one poking out of his mouth, and Lisa midway through unwrapping hers.

“Great,” Leonard drawled in mock annoyance. “My sister and Ramon.”

“You’re the ones making out in the hallway,” Cisco replied, taking the candy out of his mouth solely for the purpose of saying that.

“We were not making out,” Sara defended, finally reclaiming her arms and taking just barely a half step away from Leonard.

“Clearly,” Lisa murmured almost disappointedly, to which Leonard rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you two have things you need to be doing?” He asked, to which Cisco shrugged.

“Time vault,” the younger man replied, using his candy to point to the door just a few feet down the hall.

Len looked over at the door then sighed, suddenly realizing that the mission was about to start and that meant more people would soon be filing down this very hallway. Then, as if she took pleasure in his discomfort, Lisa started smirking knowingly at him.

“Mission won’t take more than ten minutes, you’ll see each other again.” She taunted as she and Cisco finally restarted on their way to the time vault. “You can make out all you want once it’s over.”

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Caitlin was wandering around the familiar corridors of the lab and had just now come to a stop in the doorway of her, Lily’s, office. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go in or not, she wasn’t even sure if she SHOULD go in or not. It wasn’t that she felt unwelcome in the familiar room, it was just that so much as changed and it’s Lily’s now and… and going in felt like an intrusion.

“The door’s open you know,” A small squeak of a voice sounded from behind her, where Lily, of course, was slowly approaching to stand beside her. “I haven’t changed anything around, haven’t cleaned out the drawers of your desk.” She went on carefully but Caitlin gave no reaction, as she wasn’t sure how exactly to feel about that.

On one hand, she had left; she hadn’t died. Lily had every right to throw away all the sentimental crap in her desk drawers. Yet on the other hand, she almost wanted to smile at the prospect. The idea that it was still there, that she could still come back if she wanted to, it made her feel something close to happy.

But… she couldn’t ignore that there was still something keeping her on edge.

“Where’s Julian?” She suddenly found herself blurting out, turning to Lily whose face fell with dread.

“He left,” She admitted.

He left.

The words settled in Caitlin’s stomach like a heavy rock, the air catching in her lungs as she tried to process what she had just been told. That Julian had left.

“When?” She finally managed to get out, and maybe it sounded a little more strangled than intended, and Lily definitely noticed, but she found that she didn’t care.

“Not long after I signed on,” the younger of the Stein geniuses admitted. “About three months after Barry…” she trailed off, unable to say it. “He said work was piling up at the CCPD, said without Barry there were double the crimes and no one to split the work with, so he left to focus on it. We don’t see much of him these days.”

Caitlin nodded, at least he was still in town; maybe she could still have a chance at fixing things.

 

* * *

 

Sara snickered as the jump ship touched down in March of 2000 and she glanced over her shoulder to see Wally squeezing his eyes shut tight, most likely willing away a headache.

“Don’t time travel kid,” she mock warned, “It’ll mess with your head.”

Wally groaned at her voice, suddenly far too loud against his eardrums as he lifted the restraints on his seat.

“Man, I gotta learn how to run through time.” He practically whined, wishing to never suffer from a headache like this again.

“No, you don’t.” Sara told him firmly before setting a finger to her ear and tapping the button on her comm. She noted down the faint hint of a buzzing in the tech as a good note, as the lack of silence signaled the line wasn’t completely dead. “Can you read me Cisco?”

“Read you loud and clear Canary,” Came the engineer’s immediate reply, “Connecting the two Gideon’s worked like a charm.” He went on and Sara grinned smugly, step one was down without any problems whatsoever.

“Alright guys,” Ray’s voice was now over the comms, “You’re right next door to Barry’s house. In two minutes Reverse Flash is going to show up and, well, kill Barry’s mother. As soon as he shows up Wally should be able to see Barry, but do not let anyone else see you guys, especially not Barry’s past self who’ll be coming back to stop Nora from dying.”

“Or the one coming back fighting Reverse Flash,” Cisco added in, “Though I think he’ll be a little preoccupied.”

“Don’t forget the other one going to stop it,” Iris’s voice interjected, “The one who actually does save her.”

“Which also means watch out for the other Reverse Flash,” Cisco said.

“Ok,” Sara said, shaking her head. “So aside from the one we’re here for, there are three other versions of Barry I need to worry about?”

“Don’t forget little Barry!” Cisco exclaimed and Sara rolled her eyes, how had this place never shown up on Nate’s temporal seismograph?

“Just remember that the version of Barry you’re looking for is frozen in this moment, so he will be standing there almost lifelessly.” Professor Stein said and again Sara nodded, this time turning to Wally to make sure he’d heard that, he nodded as well.

“Ok, you have thirty seconds until Thawne and future Barry, one future Barry anyway, show up. So start looking now.” Cisco’s voice was all business now, something rare for the longhaired scientist.

Wally nodded and sped out of the jump ship, leaving Sara alone with nothing to do but pace and try to will away the bad feeling creeping along her spine, telling her something wasn’t right. She was sure it was just nerves, but there was still so much that could go wrong if Wally’s seen by someone other than current Barry. Not to mention that there could still be another thirty seconds before they’re even in the right moment, meaning that super speed or not Wally might still have to wait before returning. Those thirty seconds felt like they dragged on for an eternity, but once they were up they were up too soon, and Wally was standing before her; panicked and alone.

“He’s not here!” The young speedster panted, Sara felt her heart drop.

“What?” She demanded.

“Wally are you sure?” Iris questioned over the comms, it was obvious even through the link that she was trying to keep her voice calm and even, and Sara was glad that the other woman couldn’t see the deflated look on her little brother’s face.

“Yeah,” he said, “I looked everywhere. But his moms dead and he isn’t here.”

There was a collective silence on both ends of the comms, each group holding their breath waiting for the other to decide to throw in the towel. Sara was just about to give in, wanting to beat Iris to it because she shouldn’t have to be the one to give up tonight, when Lily’s voice suddenly came to life through the link.

“Wait!” The younger Stein shouted, “What about his dad?”

It was quiet again as everyone considered the suggestion.

“Zoom did rip out his father’s heart right in front of him, definitely sounds like hell.” Ray reasoned; Sara could practically hear him shrugging.

“I’m sending you the coordinates,” Cisco said,

“Sara,” Iris was speaking now, “If Barry isn’t there come back, we still have a time hole to fix.”

“Will do,” the blonde promised, she wasn’t about to argue with her friend so she let it go unsaid that if Barry wasn’t there they would only return home to track another possible location, time hole or not they weren’t leaving one of their own stranded in his personal hell.

* * *

 

Iris sighed as the comm turned to static in her ear, meaning that Wally and Sara were in the middle of their time jump and would remain offline for about thirty seconds or so. She leaned back against the wall and tried to ignore the way all her friends were actively trying to ignore her. For the most part they were doing a fairly decent job; Professor Stein and Cisco were pouring over the computer that for right now was tracking the jump ship, while Ray and Lily were half paying attention to that and half excitedly explaining the functions of time travel to Lisa. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight, the way that Ray was doing the majority of the talking while Lily half listened to him and half listened to her father talking to Cisco, periodically interrupting either conversation with a question. She was looking at the back of Lisa’s head, so she couldn’t tell if the other woman was bored or not, but she hadn’t walked away yet so she was either interested or just humoring Ray.

It was in that instant, when she was smiling fondly at her friends by the computer, that her father entered the vault and sidled up next to her.

“What do you think baby?” He asked and she huffed.

“I’m worried,” she admitted, rolling her head along the wall to face him. “What if we can’t save him?”

Her dad, always knowing what to do, reached over and wrapped her in his arms. She hugged him back, pressing her face into his chest as he tried to take her hurt away.

“You’ll save him Iris,” he murmured into her hair, “Even if it isn’t today, this family does not give up on each other. We will get him back.”

She frowned against him, she didn’t want to but she just wasn’t sure she could take the false hope.

“Guys?” Wally’s voice cackled through the clearing static in her ear, and so she pulled away from her father to press her finger to the comm.

“Yeah Wally?” She answered,

“Sara and I are here.”

“Ok,” Cisco’s reply to them sounded from across the room. “They should be in there.”

 

* * *

 

“Got it,” Wally confirmed before pulling up his cowl and turning to Sara. “I’ll be back.”

“Bring Barry,” she instructed and he nodded.

“That’s the plan.” He said and with that he zoomed off into the house, stopping short in the hall just before the doorway to the living room where he had watched Nora Allen die only a few minutes ago.

Inside was a sight that he would never wish upon anyone to see.

There was Zoom, still masquerading as Jay, and he had his hand in the chest of Henry Allen. Past Barry was there, screaming as his father’s body fell unconsciously to the wooden floor of the living room. But more importantly there was someone else, a broken looking shell of a man with the beginnings of a scraggly beard standing almost hypnotized in the hallway; Barry.

“Barry,” Wally whispered but his brother didn’t hear him. “Barry,” he said it a little louder, but still nothing. He growled to himself, he knew he wasn’t supposed to risk being seen, but he needed to get through to Barry. “Barry,” He said again, leaning forward and this time grabbing the trapped speedster by the arm.

Barry jumped at the contact, startled, and before he could say anything he faded away into nothingness. A surge of panic coursed through Wally briefly, but he remembered what Sara had said about this only being one side of the Speed Force prison. Barry’s body was still trapped, so he could only hope that him disappearing meant that he was on his way home through the Speed Force. Relief washed over Wally then, they might have actually done it. They might have actually saved Barry.

Then a flash of blue lightning caught his attention.

He looked up, terrified for his life, but Zoom was gone.

Zoom was gone and past Barry was so enthralled in his grieving that he didn’t even notice. That was when Wally looked out the window, where the jump ship was in plain view, and his heart sank.

“Oh no,” he just barely managed to breath before he sped off.

He bolted through the hatch of the jump ship where, to his horror, he was met with the sight of Zoom holding Sara against the wall of the cramped vessel by her throat, his hand just starting to faze through her chest.

“NO!” He shouted and the next thing he knew he was surging forward, tackling Zoom away from his friend.

He ran back out of the ship, still tugging Zoom with him, and when he finally threw the evil speedster to the ground the man only looked up at him in confusion.

Then he was gone.

He must have decided that he could make sense of all this later, or that he had more pressing matters to attend to, or maybe something else; Wally didn’t care. He sped back into the jump ship and fell to his knees beside Sara. She was staring up at him, her eyes wide and heavy gasps for breath coming out of her throat as he reached down and very carefully lifted her upper body so that she might be better able to breathe, cradling her in his arms as some blood began dribbling out of her lips.

“Hey, it’s ok.” He tried to tell her, “It’s ok, look at me, look at me.” He instructed and he almost sighed in relief when her eyes focused on his, at least she was still with him. “I’m gonna get you back, you’ll be alright.”

“Actually I must advise against making a time jump Mr. West.” Gideon’s voice sounded from the speakers of the jump ship. “Although you were able to prevent Mr. Zolomon from completely shredding Ms. Lance’s heart, he was able to make a small tear and she is too unstable to survive the stress of time travel. However, I have already contacted my predecessor in 2017 and your friends are on their way with the Waverider, where I will be able to heal Miss Lance in the med bay, provided they arrive quickly.” The computer explained and Wally nodded, adjusting his grip on Sara as she grew heavier in his arms.

“They’re coming,” he promised her, trying to fight back the tears clouding over his eyes as hers began to drift closed. “Your team is coming, you’ll be ok, just hang on.” He pleaded with her, watching helplessly as her eyelids fluttered wildly with her effort to keep them open.

“Just hang on.”


	20. Someone Call a Doctor

He had been in the basement.

He was waiting with Gypsy, Ramon’s girlfriend, who apparently shares his breaching powers and was standing by to open a portal into the Speed Force for Barry to get out through once they got the call that he’d been snapped out of the prison. Caitlin was also sitting in a chair off in the corner, so it was an awkward crowd all around and aside from few snarky comments they ended up opting not to talk at all. He and Caitlin were fine, but Gypsy was still mad at Caitlin for leaving Team Flash in such a desperate time only to join up with The Legends, and it was obviously best for everyone if neither of them spoke. Once the girl’s stopped talking, well, Len knew it was best he keep his own mouth shut. He sat himself on the floor to play a quiet game of solitaire and await Barry’s grand return.

Then Ramon’s call came in.

He called them over their comms and hardly got two words out before Len was on his feet and running out of the basement. All he heard was “Sara” and “hurt” and that was enough for him. He partially registered more of Ramon’s words as he rushed through the halls of the building, something about telling his girlfriend to stay put because Allen would be coming through and might need her, or maybe that was to Caitlin. Subconsciously he registered that Caitlin, so hopefully those instructions hadn’t been to her, was right behind him even as he got to the parking lot where he caught sight of Amaya and Mick.

“Where’s the fire?” Mick questioned and in his panicked state Len honestly couldn’t tell if his friend were joking or if that excited gleam in his eyes were serious.

“Get on the ship,” he found himself barking in reply, pushing past the two of them with Amaya giving him a worried look.

“Why?” She demanded,

“Sara is a year in the past and dying, so either get on the ship or get out of my way!” He shouted at them both, even though they were behind him and no longer in his way.

Either way his words shut down any further questions for the time being and the two followed him and Caitlin out to the back parking lot where the Waverider was cloaked. He and Mick, used to running out of or into emergencies together, fell back into their easy ways of wordless communication. Len knew without asking, no matter how much he needed to save Sara, to sit down in his usual flight seat and strap in as opposed to making a play for the Captain’s chair. Mick, in turn, went to Sara’s seat and began tapping over all the necessary controls.

“Where are they?” He demanded,

“May 17th, 2016. Outside Barry’s old house, 8:43 P.M.” Leonard replied.

“You know we can’t stop it, right?” Mick asked, sparing a glance over his shoulder and the heartbroken look on his partner’s was all the confirmation he needed.

With the coordinates put in the Waverider hummed to life and took off, it’s four occupants praying they would make it in time.

 

* * *

 

Wally was starting to panic at this point.

Gideon had just told him that the Waverider is on its way, but each second passing by as he waited felt like an eternity to him. Sara’s eyes had closed but her heavy breathing let him know that she was still alive, the only thing keeping him grounded right now. He adjusted her carefully in his arms, fearful that one wrong move might kill her but knowing that he was going need a grip that would allow him to left her when the ship arrived. As if on cue, he heard the hum of a large engine just outside the jump ship.

They were here.

He gathered Sara up into his arms as quickly and carefully as he could, taking off in a sprint and jumping onto the still descending ramp of the Waverider before it was anywhere near the ground. He raced around the ship until he found what had to be the med bay Gideon had mentioned. He laid Sara down on one of the dentist chairs just as Snart raced in clamped a strange looking bracelet with a blue wire attached around Sara’s wrist.

“Gideon?!” The older man demanded in voice that was every bit as angry as it was worried.

“Miss Lance has suffered a small laceration to her heart, dangerously close to her pulmonary vein. I am working on healing it now.” The AI answered and Wally sighed in relief at the words, he may not know HOW the computer could fix Sara but he sure as hell wasn’t going to question it.

Snart seemed relieved too, though still obviously worried, and that was when Wally noticed that the former thief was holding onto Sara’s hand with another braced on her shoulder and an actual tear trailing down his face.

_Oh._

If Wally hadn’t already felt awful about Sara getting hurt, he certainly did now. He decided that it might be best to give the two their privacy, as well as put as much distance between himself and a potentially angry Leonard Snart as possible. So, quietly as he could, he slipped out of the room.

Not that he knew where he was going.

He was right outside the room when he finally peeled his cowl off his face, and then he simply set off wandering down the hall before he bumped into Caitlin.

“Oh… hey.” He stammered awkwardly.

“Is Sara ok?” She asked urgently.

“Yeah,” He breathed, “Yeah, Snart’s with her.”

“Ok, good.” She breathed in relief, “Are you ok?”

“What?” Wally asked in confusion, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Wally,” she said in a tone that he had heard before, although it was usually directed at Barry. It was a tone that said she knew he was full of crap. “You just watched two people, almost three, be brutally murdered.”

He had almost forgotten that in the chaos of trying to save Sara, so a part of him wanted to sarcastically thank her for reminding him. But, instead, he just found himself sighing and pacing to the nearest wall before leaning his back against it.

“I know,” he confessed, “It sucked, it hurt, and right now I feel like everything’s fine so I’m assuming that means I’m going to be having nightmares for a long time after this.” He ranted, sliding down to sit on the cold metal of the floor, his knees to his chest and his head in his hands.

Caitlin got down in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder, her thumb moving in small, comforting patterns as he looked up and saw her browns eyes watching him intently. He wasn’t crying, he wasn’t even teary eyed, but he was scared. He’d just watched both of Barry’s parents die, Sara nearly died in his arms, and Caitlin had been MIA for so long that he felt like if he didn’t hold onto her right now she would disappear again. So he lunged forward and wrapped her in as tight a hug as he had ever given anybody.

She didn’t ask any questions, thankfully, just returned the embrace and stayed on the floor with him until he felt he was ready to get up again.

“Come on,” She said when they were finally back on their feet, “Why don’t you and me take the jump ship and see how the others made out?”

“Ok,” Wally agreed with a relieved laugh, “Hey, can I drive?” He asked excitedly and she smirked at him, clearly amused.

“No,” she answered before walking off.

“Oh come on!” He protested, trailing after her with an amused smile of his own.

 

* * *

 

Len lost track of how long he spent sitting with Sara, he was sure it wasn’t as long as it felt but it sure felt like an eternity before her eyes finally blinked open and he let out the breath he had been holding.

Sara winced as she move to sit up, one hand staying linked with Leonard’s and the other moving up to rest on her chest.

“Well that hurt,” she quipped,

“Are you ok?” Len asked with an amused smirk and she nodded.

“Yeah,” she promised, “Yeah I’m fine. Thoroughly freaked out but fine.”

“Good,” He breathed, “Never do that to me again.”

“I wasn’t exactly planning on having my heart ripped out,” she chuckled before her eyes flitted down to their joined hands, her grip adjusting until she could brush her thumb over his knuckles.

They were silent for a few minutes, Sara just stroking her thumb in gentle patterns over his skin until she finally decided they had lingered long enough and so she brought his hand up to her lips for a soft kiss.

“Come on,” she said as she pulled his hand away from her lips, though she didn’t let it go. “We should get going.”

* * *

 

“Cait and the kid in the banana suit took the jump ship back to 2017, gonna see if Sara almost getting kill was worth it or not.” Mick said as he walked onto the bridge where Amaya was pacing anxiously, though she snapped her attention to him the moment that he entered.

“Ok,” she said distractedly, naturally Mick’s face screwed up in confusion at her demeanor.

“You ok?” He asked and the way she looked at him so quickly, she almost looked guilty. “Fine,” she promised, not that he believed her for a second. He was about to call her on it, but that was when Snart and their ever-resilient Captain filed into the room behind him.

“Any word from 2017?” Sara questioned and Mick shook his head while they all filed into their flight chairs.

“Not yet,” He said, “We’ll find out when we get there.”

“Alright then,” Sara said as she punched in the coordinates for the present time. “Let’s hope this worked.”

 

* * *

 

They touched down in the back of S.T.A.R. Labs and disembarked from the ship, walking quickly as they could into the building and hurrying to the cortex where they found most of their friends were gathered.

“Did it work?” Sara asked as the group of them entered and Lisa was the first one she caught smiling at them, though she wasn’t entirely sure if it was an answer to her question or if it was just because she could clearly see it when Len gently put a hand on her waist as they came to a stop.

“Yes my dear,” Stein answered her proudly, “Mr. Allen has returned to us, go and see.” The older man encouraged, nodded towards the medical room.

Looking over in slight concern Sara started for the room, the rest of her group trailing behind her. Peering inside she saw Lily, Cisco, Gypsy, Harry, and Iris, but most importantly Barry lying unconscious on the medical bed.

“He collapsed right out of the breech,” Gypsy informed them, “But he’s here.”

“He’s here,” Sara repeated with a smile, looking over at Iris who was beaming happily up at her.

 

* * *

 

They decided to wait until tomorrow to deal with The Legends’ problem of the broken timeline. While most of Team Flash had a surprisingly easy time wrapping their heads around the news that LA isn’t supposed to be a giant realm of chaos, then again they do have more experience with altered timelines than most people, it had still been a long day and the group unanimously decided that they all deserved a good night’s sleep before diving into the challenge of repairing LA.

The Legends mostly went off to their own devices, either visiting their families or just hanging around the city for a night out. Lily had said she would stay at the Lab to keep an eye on Barry, but Caitlin volunteered to take the job instead if Lily wanted to be with her father while he’s in town. Both the Steins were appreciative of that, as was Clarissa, and so Caitlin ended up staying.

Along with Iris.

Iris was certainly not going anywhere until Barry woke up, which she promised to call her father when that eventually happened. But for now she was sitting in a chair at his bedside, Caitlin sitting in the corner of the room quietly scanning through test results Iris was sure she had checked over four times already.

“So… how was LA?” She finally spoke up and the question had Caitlin pivoting just slightly in her chair, as if needing to confirm Iris was talking to her.

“Alright,” she replied with a shrug, “Lot’s of dinosaurs, a few Huns, flying jellyfish, not to mention I was there barely a week before I ran into a supposedly dead man. So yeah, interesting place.” She concluded and Iris smirked at the tale.

“Man, and I thought things in Central City were weird.” She said and Caitlin smiled before turning back to her computer, and thus the awkward silence continued.

They remained in the quiet for another few minutes until Iris decided she couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“We’ve missed you these past few months,” She said and Caitlin looked over again, as if she were about to defend herself until the words died on her lips when she saw Iris smiling. “But… I think it’s good you spent some time with the Legends, you seem better.”

Caitlin smiled warmly, about to open her mouth and say something, when Barry suddenly began to stir.

Both she and Iris snapped their attention to him immediately; Caitlin hurrying over to the bed whilst Iris tightened her grip on Barry’s hand.

“Barry?” She asked hopefully as her fiancé’s eyes finally started to flutter open.

“Iris?” He asked weakly, his eyes squinting closed and so Caitlin leaned over for the light switch, flicking it off and allowing Barry to adjust more easily. “Where am I?” He asked and Iris smiled a big, watery smile down at him.

“You’re back Barry,” she promised him, “You’re home.”


	21. Found

Len had offered for her to stay with him and Mick in an old safe house but Sara, reluctantly, turned him down. She wanted to stay with him, but at the same time she hadn’t seen her mom since she was brought back to life and well she figured the woman deserved an explanation. Actually, she wasn’t even sure if her mother KNEW she had been brought back to life. That process hadn’t exactly gone smoothly, and she wasn’t sure if Laurel or her father ever told her mother after she got her soul back and left. So she knew that when she called there was a 50% chance she would give her mother a heart attack, and she nearly did, but apparently her father had informed her about the resurrection and Dinah was just dying to see her daughter again.

So that’s what brought Sara here, to her mother’s doorstep, working up the nerve to knock.

It was pointless to be nervous, as her mother was expecting her. But still she hesitated a few seconds before finally rapping her knuckles against the door. It was barely a minute before the door open to reveal the smiling face of her mother.

“Sara!” The older woman exclaimed happily as she pulled her daughter in for a hug, which the younger woman returned with a matching smile.

“Hi mom,” she said into her shoulder. Her mom pulled back then to look her over, one hand resting on her cheek and the other gripping her hand. Sara saw her mother’s eyes sparkling with tears as she looked her over and she couldn’t help but smile, this need to assure her mom that she was alright rising up inside of her.

“Come inside,” Dinah finally said, ushering Sara into the apartment.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t too late into the night that Barry woke up. Caitlin ran a few tests on him, but the more complicated and less important ones she opted to save for the morning. She left in order to allow Iris and Barry some alone time, and it really wasn’t unreasonably late, at least not so late that someone who has a habit of using work as a distraction would’ve grown tired and gone home. So with that thought in mind Caitlin found herself outside the always-open doors of CCPD. She took a deep breath as she looked up at the taunting building, a part of her wanted to run but she forced herself forward; she needed to do this.

The night officer was understanding enough when she explained why she had come here so late, apparently he also believed that there were some people in the CCPD who need to learn when to call it a night and if someone was here to talk to one of them, he wasn’t going to stand in the way. So with that taken care of Caitlin ascended the stairs to the second floor of the precinct and then those at the back of the hallway that went up to the floor of the CSI Lab.

The door was open and Julian was at his desk inside, though he didn’t notice her at first. She stood there for a few seconds, just watching him writing something down on a paper. But eventually she decided that enough was enough, and she took a step in.

She knew that he was immersed in his work, could tell by the concentrated look on his face, so she purposely stepped in a way that allowed the sound of her footfall to echo up from off the floor.

He snapped his head up.

“I know you probably hate me, I would hate me too.” She began as he watched her, his face set in a state of total surprise. “I wish that I could stand here and tell you I’m sorry, and beg for your forgiveness, but I can’t; because I’m not.” She went on and as she took a second to sniffle a tear away Julian rose to his feet, and when she shook her head at him he obeyed and her unspoken request and instead simply walked around his desk to lean against it. “What I can do is tell you that last year I was going though a lot, and I didn’t love you.” She sniffled again, the tears starting to escape more and more of her control. “I wasn’t ready to love you,” This time it was more than a sniffle, this time her intake of breath was a sharp squeak as she scrubbed at her eyes. “And I still don’t know if I am or if I’m standing here asking for a second chance or a third chance or what but I just… I don’t know if I’m leaving again or staying or what but I… I know I don’t want to lose you, not again.” She finally got out and he watched her as she cried, trying to pull herself together, waiting for him to say something.

“Are you done?” He eventually asked her, she nodded with another strong sniffle and watched as he pushed himself off the desk and approached her, stopping just in front of her and moving his hand as thought to cup her cheek but he stopped, unsure.

She met his eyes, her sad gaze granting him permission and hesitantly he laid his palm against her skin, being careful like he feared that she might disappear at any instant. Only when she remained still and solid under his touch did he swallow a lump in his throat and brush a thumb over her cheek to dry her tears. She focused on that, on the rough texture of his thumb brushing over her skin and wiping away the moisture there. He looked at her with a firm gaze, patiently waiting for her to look him in the eyes.

“I don’t want to lose you again either,” He confessed once she had finally met his gaze, if only for a brief second before her eyes closed tightly with the tears.

She wasn’t sure if she lunged forward into his embrace or if he pulled her, all that Caitlin knew was one second she was falling to pieces in front of Julian and the next her arms were coiled tightly around his neck and her face buried in his shoulder. She felt one of his arms around her waist, holding her close to him. The other hand went up to her head, smoothing out her hair as her murmured to her that she was all right and that he was here. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there but at some point she cried herself out and pushed just enough away so that she could rest her forehead against his.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and he chuckled, the tickle of his warm breath hitting against her neck making her smile.

“It’s alright,” he promised, “And I don’t hate you.”

She chuckled at that; he did too.

“Good,” she said, pulling back more now so that she could look at him properly. “I’m not where you are yet, but, if you’ll let me, I’d like to try and get there.” She said and Julian smiled at her, then the next thing she knew his hands, still on her waist from the hug, were pulling her back towards him.

She went willingly, her arms winding back up to their spot around his neck and her lips meeting his halfway. This kiss was longer than the last one they shared, which had barely been a peck. This one allowed her to savor the taste of his mouth on hers. His lips were sweet, the stubble of his beard scraped against her lips and how she managed not to smile at the tickling sensation of it she’ll never know. His lips were soft, and held just the slightest hint of the coffee he had most likely had earlier in order to keep himself awake. She lost herself in the kiss, and in the feeling of warmth blooming in her chest.

 

* * *

 

“So tell me more about this team of yours,” Dinah said as she poured herself and Sara each a glass of wine. Sara had been on the fence about telling her mom about the whole time travel thing, but ever since Oliver revealed Laurel had been Black Canary she had decided there wasn’t any need to hide this part of her life from her mother.

“They’re interesting,” she said, “Sometimes I feel more like the mom than the Captain, especially when it comes to Ray and Nate.” She mused, “But Len is good at keep them in line, sometimes it’s funny to watch.” She mused with a laugh, she had already told her mother plenty about Leonard and how they had found him in LA after a year of believing him dead. She had also mentioned that the two of them are together, and that had been an awkward enough conversation about why she didn’t bring him along tonight. Now though, now her mom was simply staring at her with a contented smile.  
“What?” She asked with a laugh, growing just a hair uncomfortable under her mother’s gaze.

“Nothing,” the older woman replied, “It’s just… I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy since you were a little girl.”

Sara blushed at that, how could she not? It was true; after all, the team gave her a purpose that she had been searching for ever since she left the League. Then Len, he had given her something more. Around him she didn’t have to be brave or strong, but she could if she wanted. She could also be vulnerable around him if she so chose, something she certainly wasn’t used to. He accepted her twisted past; he even loved her for it.

“He makes me happy,” she finally, awkwardly, said and her mom nodded with knowing smirk.

“I can tell,” she said, rising to her feet. “Well I’m going to bed, it sounds like you have a big day tomorrow so you might want to think about doing the same.” She said and so with a smile Sara also stood and gave her mother a hug goodnight.

“Love you mom,” she said as Dinah disappeared to her bedroom, stopping in the doorway to look back at the sound of her daughter’s voice.

“I love you more.”

* * *

 

When everyone reconvened in the cortex the next morning, after a small celebration of Barry’s return, they began working on a plan to at least rid LA of its dinosaurs. They had Martin, Caitlin, and Ray on the Waverider examining the timeline, with the help of Gideon of course. Sara and Iris were also present, as each team felt their leader should be there and with Barry still recovering Iris was going to remain as acting Captain. Cisco and Gypsy also joined the group, as they would most likely be the ones carrying out any sort of plan and would be the best judges on if it were feasible or not.

“What about the breech implosion reactors we used to close all the breeches that showed up in Central City?” Caitlin suggested, working off Ray’s theory that all of LA was really just on giant breech.

“That would work if it weren’t for the fact that those thing work by stabilizing the inter-dimensional matter between our Earth and Earth 2.” Cisco huffed, maybe a little more annoyed than he should’ve been but Caitlin ignored it.

“Actually,” Professor Stein began, the wheels beginning to turn in his mind. “The anachronisms have all been contained to the Los Angeles area, meaning that there is most likely some sort of invisible barrier between Los Angeles and the outside world.”

“But this implosion device stabilizes the matter, won’t we just cement LA the way it is?” Gypsy asked.

“Not if we adjust the device,” Ray said, “If we handle this the way that we did Barry’s rescue, use the time stream as a back door, and throw the device into LA through the time stream with settings to collapse the breech rather than stabilize it, everything that doesn’t belong in LA will go flying into the time stream.”

“So basically…” Sara trailed off, running through the idea in her mind. “We’re talking about a massive time scatter?”

Ray nodded, “Basically,” he confirmed, “But having Cisco and Gypsy gives us a little more control over it.”

“How do you mean?” Cisco asked,

“Well, collapsing the breech will send everything that doesn’t belong there hurtling through time, but if you guys use your powers to direct some of it we might be able to keep dinosaurs contained to their proper time periods.” He explained and the two breechers looked at each other, uneasy.

“And how exactly are we supposed to act like filters if everything is flying into the time stream?” Gypsy questioned.

 

* * *

 

“This is insane,” Gypsy said when a few hours after the plan had been made found her and Cisco standing in the cargo hold of the Waverider, each of them tethered to a cable for safety that was being supervised by either Leonard Snart or Mick Rory.

The rest of the Legends were there too, of course, but somehow it didn’t make her feel any better.

“Come on,” Cisco said, putting on his glasses and shaking out his wrists. “It’s just like Sort or ‘Splode on Mario 64. The red ones go in one square and the black ones go in the other. So the dinosaurs go in one breech and everything else goes in the other.”

Gypsy looked at him in disbelief, but in the end said nothing. The comparison between altering time itself and a video game sounded absurd in her opinion, but it helped her boyfriend to understand. Besides, she couldn’t have said much if she wanted to, as that was when Sara walked into the cargo hold with Harry’s breach implosion reactor.

“Ok,” The Captain said, approaching the two breechers and handing Cisco the pod. “We’re docked, and we’re pretty much right in the center of present day LA. Just dropped that thing straight down and be ready to send any dinosaurs you see back to right before the comet.” She instructed, they had decided to send all dinosaurs to right before the comet that wiped them out so that they wouldn’t have to worry about messing up any archeology; at Nate’s request of course.

“What’s gonna happen to the timeline once LA is no longer an aberration?” Amaya asked as Sara went and joined the rest of her team at the back of the hold.

“According to Gideon it will snap back to normal, save for any aberrations created by a current resident of LA landing in a slightly wrong time.” Stein replied, “We will remember because we are currently in the temporal zone, but our friends down at S.T.A.R. Labs, they won’t even remember why we required their help.” The older man went on.

“But we can tell them, right?” Cisco asked; if he was about to help fix the time stream itself he wanted to be able to brag about it.

“Yes Cisco, if they’ll believe you.” Sara answered and the engineer grinned.

“Alright, let’s do this.” He said and so with that the doors opened.

Once the door was open the entire cargo hold filled with wind, so they were going to have to move quickly. Cisco dropped the reactor and below them there was an explosion. He and Gypsy were already teetering on the very edge on the ship, one hand each occupied with keeping their breech to prehistoric times open and the other braced along each other’s shoulder to keep from falling out of the ship. They tried to get as many dinosaurs as they could, but it was hard to see with everything flying past so quickly and in all different directions. In the end Cisco didn’t think they did too bad, or at least he hoped they didn’t. But eventually he felt a harsh tug at his back and he and Gypsy went stumbling back into the hold, the door closing in front of them.

“Ok,” Sara said, a proud, beaming smile starting to break out across her face. “We did it.”

 

* * *

 

They touched back down in the present to find that they had, in fact, done it. Most of Team Flash was actually willing to believe Cisco’s story about why he and Gypsy had gone with the Waverider for the afternoon, but only once Sara took pity and backed him up. So between that and Barry’s return they all decided to order some pizzas and celebrate.

It was a relatively noisy affair, as is to be expected when two superhero teams get together, and it was crowded enough that no one really paid it any mind when Leonard pulled his sister out into the hallway barely five minutes after she had walked in.

“Did you get it?” He asked her maybe a little too eagerly, to which she rolled her eyes, amused.

“Had to defile grandma’s grave but… I got it.” She confirmed, pulling a small velvet box out of her jacket pocket. At first Len smirked at her tease, knowing that she hadn’t actually needed to dig up their long dead grandmother to find what he had asked her for, as the old woman had left it to her after she died and he had never allowed her to pawn it for cash so it had to be somewhere in her apartment.

Still, his face was set in a grateful sort of awe as he took the box from her hand and opened it to see their grandmother’s wedding ring glittering up at him.

“You’re sure you don’t mind if I use this?” He asked for the umpteenth time; Lisa had only been nine when their beloved grandmother passed away but the woman had made damn sure she held on long enough to give her young granddaughter the ring in person, that way Lewis would never know.

“Of course not,” Lisa assured him, “Grandma would’ve loved Sara.” She promised and Len smiled, looking down at the ring again. “So, when are you going to ask her?”

Len flicked his eyes back up at his sister, closing the jewelry box and slipping it into his own pocket.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “Probably not anytime soon, but it’s nice to have it.”

Lisa nodded, a mischievous glint in her eye that suddenly had Len fearing what she might say next.

“Well don’t lose it, I’ll kick your ass if you do.” She warned and he chuckled.

“If you can track me down through time to find me,” he mocked.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” She countered with a shrug, “I heard Caitlin talking to Sara; she’s going to stick around Central. Seems like the Legends have an opening.”

Len smirked at the suggestion, “You’re gonna shack up with us?” He asked skeptically, and Lisa smiled in a way that couldn’t mean anything but _yes._

“Time travel sounds like fun,” she shrugged before moving to head back into the cortex. “Besides,” she added, “That Palmer guy is kind of cute.”

With that she disappeared back into the party, leaving her dear brother in the hallway to mull over that possibility.

 

* * *

 

They weren’t set to leave for the temporal zone until the morning, but most of the Legends were still sleeping on the Waverider and so Amaya was in her room getting ready for bed when Mick appeared in her doorway.

“You ok?” He asked her.

“Of course,” she answered, her brow knitting together in confusion. “Why do you ask?”

He huffed at her question; “You were walking around the bridge earlier like you were one second away from losing your mind.”

“Sara was nearly killed!” She all but snapped, not that it fazed Mick in the least.

“Amaya,” He said firmly, “We both knew she was fine.” He took a step towards her then, leveling his glare with her. “What was wrong?”

For a minute Amaya just held his gaze, trying to find it in her to tell him to leave her alone, but she couldn’t.

“She was fine,” she admitted, “But… she might not have been. It didn’t have to be Sara who went back with Wally; it could’ve been any of us. Me, Ray, Leonard… you.” She added that last one sheepishly, shyly, and watched as Mick’s hard gaze finally faltered. “I don’t want lose you Mick.” She admitted, her voice just barely a whisper as she avoided his eyes, her arms wrapped around herself.

His fingers brushed her chin, tilting her head up ever so gently so that she could look him in the eyes.

“Never,” he swore simply and at the sincerity in his Amaya couldn’t stop herself, she leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

At first Mick didn’t react, just stood there shocked. Amaya, fearing she might have gone too far, began pulling back but soon felt Mick deepening the kiss. She smiled against his lips, now kissing him with more fervor. She still couldn’t be sure of what the future might hold for her, but there was one thing that she knew for certain; she wants Mick there with her.

* * *

 

Caitlin watched as the Waverider flew off from the parking lot that next morning. Saying goodbye to the Legends was hard, harder than she had ever expected it to be, but she knew they’d be around again eventually. Len had seemed to be a little apprehensive to now be working with his sister, whereas Mick looked like he found the prospect downright funny. She was sure it was going to make for an interesting dynamic.

“So it’s true,” Cisco’s voice broke through the silence left behind by the engines of the time ship and Caitlin turned around to see him striding towards her. “You didn’t go with them?”

“Look Cisco,” she began, “I didn’t mean to leave here only to join another team. I just needed to figure some things out and the Legends…I was always going to come home.” Cisco nodded, a small smile poking through his face.

“I know,” he said and then in a surprising gesture he opened his arms and wrapped her in a hug. “It’s good have you back.”

Caitlin smiled against him, “It’s good to be back.”

They stayed like that for a few seconds longer before Cisco finally stepped back and smiled at her.

“Come on,” he said, “We’re going to need some help now that Golden Glider’s off annoying her brother, you ever figure out a name?” He asked as they headed back towards the building and Caitlin smiled.

“Frost,” she replied; Cisco smiled.

“Frost,” he repeated, testing the name out. “Alright Frost, let’s get to work.”

Caitlin continued smiling as she fell into step beside him, heading back into S.T.A.R. Labs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!!!!!!!
> 
> I just want to say a thank you to everyone who's been reading this story, especially all the people who have left such thoughtful comments! The comments have really made my days! I'm glad that so many people liked this story and stayed with it as I posted it, you guys are the best!


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